Simply speaking, it is a way of transfusing a person’s bone marrow, full of healthy stem cells, into another individual, whose bone marrow isn’t healthy due to various medical reasons. Though in some cases, an autologous transplant is done, in which the donor and receiver is the same person.
Bone marrow is a soft part of the bone residing in the middle of the major bones in your body. If seen the cross-section area of a bone, one may see a spongy part in it, that part is bone marrow. Bone marrow can be called as the manufacturing unit for the blood cells in your body as most of the cells are generated in the bone marrow. All blood cell components are derived from the parent cells, or stem cells.
A bone marrow or stem cell transplant is said to be done in most of the cases where the person is suffering from certain kinds of cancers. A thorough consultation on the decision of opting for a transplant is always recommended with your health care team who can guide you through the whole process, discuss your current medical condition and why a transplant is the best treatment for you.
Your doctor will decide the suitable kind of transplant for you from autologous (you are the donor) and allogeneic (someone else is the donor).
Side effects:
Bone marrow or stem cell transplants accompanied with the heavy dose of chemotherapy or radiation therapy, may cause side effects.
The most common side effects are:
Nausea, fatigue, pain
Not wanting to eat
Low blood cell levels, such as neutropenia or anemia (low WBC count)
Changes in women’s period (menstrual cycle)
A sore mouth and sore throat
Hair loss
Changes in how you feel about sex
Feeling numb or tingling in the feet or hands
Diarrhea
Your health care team will give you more details about the side effects that you might have and how to cope with them. Here are some strategies by which coping up with the transplant would be quite easier for you:
Utilize your support network of friends and family
The difficult part comes after the transplant when one has to cope up with the transplant and possibly, face a few complication after the infusion.
To cope up with any disease, it is important to have the support of your family. Having frequent visits or calls from your loved ones or friends can be very comforting. Discuss with your family and friends about what are the problems you are facing after the transplant. Allow your friends and family to help you out in whatever possible way they can.
Talk with other patients and families about bone marrow transplantation
There are a lot of people out there other than you who faced even worse than you due to their transplant. You can take the help of doctors or some support services to meet such people and their families and know how they faced the postoperative phase of the procedure and what to do and what not to do in such conditions. You would definitely get beneficial tips to change your lifestyle accordingly. By talking to their families, you may even get a wider idea about handling the phase more maturely and tackle your situation wisely.
Actively participate in your treatment plan
How effective would be the treatment plan for you depends mostly on your behavior. After all you are the person who has to follow it, making your role as a key person in your treatment plan. Stay updated about your health and medications and communicate with the medical experts for your questions and ideas. Be frank and do not refrain yourself from asking the instructions again and again from your doctor, nurse or any other medical professional. Your bone marrow transplant team will always be available and ready to help you by answering your queries and addressing your concerns.
Focus on things you can influence
Whatever happened to you, it is now your past. Most important is to deal with what you can do right now for the betterment of your situation. After the transplant, you are very much prone to various risks aforementioned, you can work on them by adjusting the things that you can still influence, like your lifestyle, diet, surroundings, etc. Simply speaking, stop thinking about the things which happened to you and that you can’t control or change, instead, focus on doing those things that will help your current physical condition.
You can take steps bit by bit, like sitting outside in fresh air for some time, getting amused by your loved ones or friends and all the stuff that would make you feel good. Let go off your tensions by doing what you like.
Deal with any post operative complications positively
As said earlier, there are many things which your medical team will monitor constantly after your transplant to seek the development of any kind of complications in your body. Transplants may not be a complete success due to recurrence of the disease or regimen related toxicity. Regimen related toxicity relates to the side-effects that the patients may develop during the transplantation period. These side effects include:
Temporary immunodeficiency after transplantation;
Failure to engraft
Infections (bacterial, fungal or viral)
Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD)
Gastrointestinal and hepatic complications
Neurological or pulmonary complications
Late effects after stem cell transplant
Graft versus host disease (GVHD)
The most talked about possible adverse effect of a bone marrow transplantation is GVHD i.e. graft vs. host disease. This happens when the graft implanted in the patient’s body starts to produce the leukocytes, whose job is to recreate the donor’s immune system in patient’s body. Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is the term used when this new immune system attacks the patient’s body. The cells produced by the donated graft see the patient’s whole body as a “foreign object” and attack it which can cause severe damage. GVHD can be acute or chronic. Acute GVHD may occur within the first 3 months after the transplant or T-cells infusion (Donor Lymphocyte Infusion, or DLI).
In these panicking conditions, you are expected to be calm and take decisions with your mind widely opened for any possible options suitable for you. Your doctors will help you out with the medications for respective complications in your body.
Take part in periodic bone marrow biopsies to be ensured about yourself being disease-free.
Accept your reactions and your natural pace
Relating the two things that every person acts in his own way and everyone’s body has its own natural pace to deal with the newly implanted organs, one must accept how he or she feels about the events, and give himself/herself time to adjust and process his thoughts and feelings about what is happening.
Whatever your reactions towards the disease and treatment are, they must come out in a natural way. After all it’s you who is dealing with all the pain and suffering part. And try to convince yourself that though the rate of your treatment is slow but it’s necessary so as to get yourself back on your feet as soon as possible.
Focus on what you have
Try to focus on the fact that you may have gone through a lot of pain and suffering but the end result is going to be worth of it. Think of the transplant as a necessary step to be taken at that time and try to live your life with a new and positive start with this in mind that you still have a lot and have gained rather than you have lost something.
Accept the unexpected
You have to accept that there are events which happened and are going to happen to you which you cannot control. Though few things will happen exactly as expected, you must have plans for the delay in curing, setbacks, and surprises like complications, which this unwanted event may bring with it in your life.
Even after being sure about your health, try to be in a precautionary state so as to dodge down any long-term problems. And if, by chance you suffer from any complications, try to deal with it like you were expecting this to happen and discuss the matter with your doctor.
Reduce stress
When you are facing bone marrow transplant, there are maximum chances that you may build up stress, affecting your views about your life. Prolonged stress may also lead to hopelessness, anger, frustration and in some cases, depression too.
Here are enlisted some tips to reduce stress:
Don’t be aggressive, be assertive instead . Assert your opinions, feelings, or beliefs rather than becoming combative, angry, or passive.
Learn techniques to relax.
Exercise as much often as you can.
Embrace a well balanced diet in your life.
Get ample amount of rest and sleep. Our body needs time for recovering out of stressful daily events.
