I also know after a certain age you can no longer qualify for asct. I was age 69 and was diagnosed stage 3 IGG Kappa standard risk. I think it’s 80 years old plus they check your health status to see if your body can handle asct. I was afraid for one year stayed on 4 chemo drug regimen of velcade revlamide 25 mg darzalex dexymethasone which was wearing my body done and I knew I couldn’t withstand this treatment much longer and I never achieved remission so I knew it was time to have the asct done 12/2023.
I prayed about it also my friend’s husband had what I had and he had gone through the asct and came out doing great even went back to work had some back pain took methadone until he got kyphoplasty done now he’s off all pain meds too!!! He’s in remission on revlamide 2.5 mg.maintenance.
Praise God!!!
I read up on the procedure talked to mdanderson oncologist twice about having it done chickened out first time in April then 8 months later I was ready to go for it!
Lost hair it grew back in 7 months med negative no cancer cells found yes it was worth it cause I’m not on all that chemo I was on in induction therapy at the beginning that was the worst ever for me .
Stem cell transplant was a breeze for me my head got hot I could have benefited using a cold cap I forgot my pillow which I love and I did get a sore throat hard to swallow a few days had to gargle with baking soda water mixture nurses gave me wished go a homemade veggie soup easy to swallow but seriously I was just ready to go home now I was tired and slept a lot even after I got home I’m still sleeping a good bit and had a couple of outbreaks of shingles because I was off acylovir so you have to watch for infections and shingles all the time cause your immune system is so low.

Thanks Rick. My husband plans to have stem cells harvested but put the transplant on hold, hopefully indefinitely.

I have high risk MM diagnosed 4 months ago; the doctor wanted to rush me to a SCT after 4 rounds of treatment. During this time, I did my own research and read many sites like this one and decide I was not going to have on because of potential side effects and reading about a study that said high risk patients don't benefit from ACT. In 3 weeks, I will go on maintenance every 4 weeks, I am getting treatment every week right now. I feel great no side effects, haven't had to miss any work. I know I am very new in this, hopefully I have a better story to tell in 1 year or 2.

Joanne,
I went through induction 4 chemo drug treatment for one year never reaching remission. Dec 2023 went through autologous stem cell transplant came out mrd negative no mm cells found and it’s been 8 months now so I’m glad I did it!

Joanne587,
Check out @A MyMyelomaTeam Member for his posts on SCT.
Paula 🌹

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