Thanks! Knowing I can be an inspiration in any slightest way is the biggest motivation I could receive. I truley believe the hardest part about the transplant for anyone considering doing it is the emotional part, and keeping that positive attitude.You truly are a brave man and very inspirational with your great attitude and high spirits. I hope and pray all goes well and the treatment is every bit as successful as possible.
Do you have any rough idea of how long it will be until you are hopefully well-i know that it is very dependant on many factors, but generally is it 6 months of treatment etc?
Hope the test results are favourable too, really look forward to hearing more!
Well thank you Bella!Good luck!
I wish you all the luck in the world and my thoughts and prayers are with you. Thank you so much for giving us such a personal insight into your journey. I'm staying tuned for the next instalment! All the best.
Chris, my fighting spirit has to be in all us crohnnies, but I'll accept the gracious comment =) . Chris I believe this is THE MOST exciting and promising treatment to ever come across Crohn's disease, and all it can do is get better and more refined as time passes. I got discouraged a bit with the few responces in the beggininng, but I'll keep the post flowing now. Again, I'll accept all those kind prayers - Thank you sir!Hi Ziggy:
Wow! I admire your fighting spirit. This sounds very exciting and promising. I hope you will indeed be cured! That will give the rest of us hope. Good luck and keep the posts coming. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Chris
You are very welcome Amanda, and thank you!Best of luck to you! I am looking forward to hearing how the rest of the transplant goes for you. I think its safe to say that we are all pulling for you!! Thanks for posting your experiences with this for us to see.
Amanda
Yeah how do you feel? Any side effects? Best of luck!
Hi Ziggy,
If you don't mind me asking, how are you going emotionally? Do you have any family or friends with you?
Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that everything goes according to plan.
Dexky, During the next stage of chemo I will be isolation as stage 2 of chemo is 7 days.Hey Zig, I'm surprised you aren't kept in isolation or something while your immune system is being destroyed.
Yeah and to boot, I hate needles lol. I was actually diagnosed with a "needle phobia"(yes there is such a diagnosis lol) when I was younger.I have gotten a bit better since then. I wouldn't say I am as calm as can be about it, but I am as ready as ever to get it done - Friday it will be!Glad to hear it is going well. When they take your blood they take it for 4-6 hours? That must be a ton of blood.
Amazed how calm you are. I get nervous just reading this, but hospitals kind of freak me out in general.
Thanks so much Claire! Nice to hear from ya!Good to hear things are relatively smooth , stay strong! We're all rooting for you!
Aww I try my best.ziggy im loosing the words to speak..... your amazing! x
Yeah, I when I was first looking into it I couldn't find much information, and the blogs done in the past were great, but just not as detailed as I would of liked before I put my foot forward. So I figured I try my best to put that "detailed" blog I "was" looking for out there. We need more canidates for stem cell transplants, and to get these people, we need to educate them so they understand everything 100%. In my eyes, if(WHEN) this works out for me like I am hoping(expecting based on previous results ect) it would of all been 110% worth it, no doubt. The doc I have IS the leading doc in the world when in comes to stem cell thearpy. He has cured MS, Crohn's, Lupus, and the list and number just seem to be accumulatingWow! It's amazing that your doing this! I'm so glad you are posting this all here....you have alot of valuable information to share!
Good Luck! I hope this works out for you ....and for everyone one else that may benefit from this trial!
Exactly my friend. Hopefully you get well. If not you will now have another story to base your decision on yet another great treatment for our disease.Hi there Ziggy I am new to this site but alas not to crohns, I just wanted to say thankyou so much for your blog I have been very interested in stem cell therapy as a treatment for CD as my story is so much like your own especially the part where you could not absorb anything and became dehydrated kidneys failing extreme wieght loss etc and the subsequent lung problems so your blog is very much of great interest and if not for people like yourself others such as myself can find it very difficult to make a true informed choice when offerd different treatments, but with blogs like your own it gives us that bit more in the way of choice because while indeed everybody responds in different ways the procedure is the same, also they may find that they respond in a way similar to yourself which because of your blog and others like it they understand whats happening and it becomes less worrying so again thankyou so much for taking the time even though there are times when you must be exausted or feeling very unwell you are an inspiration. Thank You x also I hope eveything goes well for you!
ThanksThinking about you Ziggy. Hope all is going well.
Dusty.
Piece of cake my man! I'll bring up the blog here in a sec.Hope the neck thing went well Ziggy! Thanks for the updates!
Thanks so much for your stay here on my blog Dex. Yes it continues to fascinate me more and more each day as well. It was only a day or two ago that I caught the end of a story on the news where through some stem cell treatment they made a middle age guy that was completely blind, see again!!It continues to be fascinating Zig. Hope you enjoy your stay at home and I look forward to the next leg of your journey. Stay well!!
Haha Jett, I was going to ask the same thing. Urinals and bedpans?How does one sit for 3.5 hours without going to the bathroom?
Thanks Belle!Glad to hear that things are going well so far Ziggy!
Thanks Claire. Knowing that there might be a possibility of you reading this in the future if you have to, really solidifies my blog being here. So thank you, and I hope you stay well!I really am so pleased to read that everything is going well, I know if it was me i would regularly be having teary moments however if I ever do this I will certainly re-read your story to give me strength!
Thanks Sophia!Thumbs up for you, Ziggy!
Best of luck! Will be reading your story in here.
Hugs,
Thanks! My reaction when finding the results and numbers on stem cell treatments were also WOW. Just wish I would of had someone to post a detailed blog so i could of made this decision sooner.First time I have read your story/blog. WOW is all I can. Big journey but sure it will be a great result at end. Good luck with everything and will keep reading
Jo x
Yes, it has been just over a month since I started the treatment. I just arrived back in Chicago yesterday. The schedule for all of us is the same no matter when you or I had to start. I was supposed to get a picc line placed today just like the two other crohn’s patients here. Followed by 7 days of 2 different chemo medications, starting tomorrow. The day after the last chemo is when they infuse the stem cell back into your body. After that day, they monitor you and your levels (white blood count etc) over a 10 day period. You are then discharged, with a follow up consultation with the doc 3 days later to go over everything, on how you have handled things and how you should proceed to take little precautions after you go home for the next couple months - Staying away from crowds, staying sanitized etc just like before. 2 days after that consultation you are free to go home. I myself had a minor set back that should put me around 10 days behind schedule, I will tell all in next post. Hope all is well.Thanks for the updates Ziggy.
What is the next step once you go back in a month?
It has been about a month since you started this treatment right? Just trying to get an idea of the full time frame of treatment.