If returning to your home after transplant, a complete general cleaning of your home must be done before the patient arrives home. The kitchen and bathroom areas should be cleaned with a weak mixture of bleach and water. Also, wash your child's towels and bed linens including any blankets and comforters.
This room is called a protective isolation room. It is particularly important that your child is safe from any potential sources of infection that may be carried by visitors or in the environment. The protective isolation room may contain special air flow that filters the air in the room.
You will be placed into protective isolation on the day of your stem cell transplant, if not before. If you have a blood cancer you may have experienced protective isolation after you had chemotherapy.
Approximately 2 to 3 weeks after your transplant, the stem cells that were infused during the procedure should engraft, which means they start producing new blood cells. Around this time, you may be discharged home from the hospital with instructions to follow up with your bone marrow transplant team.
Focus on areas that you will spend most of your time in after your transplant. For example, you don't need to worry about cleaning your attic or basement if you don't spend time in those areas. Get rid of dust, mold, mildew, and other tiny particles. Be sure to vacuum and dust all rooms, and shampoo all rugs.
Talk to your doctor first
It's best to start slow and gradually increase your activity level. For example, start with a small goal like walking down the street and back. Then, increase your distance as you feel able. Continue to increase your distance until you are able to walk at least 30 minutes a day.
Depending on the type of transplant and the risk of complications, you'll need to remain near the hospital for several weeks to months to allow close monitoring. You may also need periodic transfusions of red blood cells and platelets until your bone marrow begins producing enough of those cells on its own.
Eat soft, tender foods such as cooked fish and chicken, eggs, noodles, thinned cereals, and blenderized fruits and vegetables diluted to a thin consistency. Eat small, frequent meals. Drink diluted juices, broth-based soups and fruit flavored beverages. Eat moist fruits like melons.
If returning to your home after transplant, a complete general cleaning of your home must be done before the patient arrives home. The kitchen and bathroom areas should be cleaned with a weak mixture of bleach and water. Also, wash your child's towels and bed linens including any blankets and comforters.
You will feel very tired and run down after your transplant. This will be at its worst during the second and third weeks when your blood cell counts are at their lowest.
It's common to feel sick and be sick after your transplant because of your treatment, medication, a possible infection or GvHD. Nausea normally only lasts a week or two for most people. If you struggle with nausea for longer, talk to your transplant team because they might need to change your medication.
For some people, fatigue is a short-term effect of treatment that gets better over a few months. Or it might come and go for about six months to a year. Others might recover many years after their transplant, or it may never completely go away.
Pneumonia is one of the most common infectious complications in BMT recipients. Risks include immunologic and airway deficiencies, and extend late after allogeneic BMT, largely due to immunoglobulin deficiency.
Recovery Summary
Avoid traction, heavy load or resistance, and NSAIDs the first four weeks of recovery. Ultrasound/STIM/TENS units are not suggested for therapy during this time.
Bacterial infections are the most common. Viral, fungal and other infections can also occur. Some infections can develop later on, weeks to months after the transplant. Infections can cause extended hospital stay, prevent or delay engraftment, cause organ damage, and may be life threatening.
Median LOS was 25.8 days (interquartile range [IQR], 21-34.0 days), and the overall inpatient mortality rate was 8%.
Success rate of bone marrow transplants for patients with non-malignant diseases. With a matched sibling donor – 70%-90% survival. With unrelated donors – 36%-65% survival.
After the procedure, individuals may experience side effects, such as aches or pains in the lower back or hip area. These usually ease within a few days or weeks. Bone marrow donation is a procedure that collects bone marrow cells from a donor for someone receiving a bone marrow transplant.
Infection, inflammation of the airway, fluid overload, graft-versus-host disease, and bleeding are all potential life-threatening complications that may happen in the lungs and pulmonary system. Organ damage. The liver and heart are important organs that may be damaged during the transplantation process.
Experts say that weight gain is common among transplant patients. And while keeping a healthy weight is important for everyone, it's especially important after you've had a transplant. Keeping a healthy weight lowers your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Recovery. Once the transplant is finished, you'll need to stay in hospital for a few weeks while you wait for the stem cells to settle in your bone marrow and start producing new blood cells. During this period you may: feel weak, and you may experience diarrhoea and vomiting, and/or a loss of appetite.
Day 100 is a milestone that many stem cell transplant recipients circle boldly on their calendars as the turning point in their recovery. That's when the greatest risk for critical side effects is past and when the stem cells have engrafted and begun making new blood cells.