Amofostine and melphalan went in at 12:15 pm. It took less than 1/2 hour. The chemo injection portion of the treatment is over.
Theoretically all the cancer cells are on the way to extinction. As I understand it, by noon tomorrow, the melphalan will have done its work and killed all the cancerous white blood T-cells. The melphalan will no longer be effective after that which is good because ...
The harvested (and now cleaned ) stem cells are scheduled for insertion into my blood stream tomorrow some time.
It takes several days for two concurrent actions: the cancerous white blood T-cells to purge from my system, and the cleaned stem cells to travel from the blood stream to the bone marrow.
Since the cancerous white blood T-cells will not drop out of my blood stream for several days, there will be multiple monitorings during the day on the current count. Over the next days my white cell count will drop to near zero. (Red blood cell count is not affected.)
Since the harvested stem cells will need several days to travel from the blood stream to the bone marrow, and more days to differentiate into what I need - good white T-cells, this is the critical period where I will be subject to life-threatening infections that any normal person would easily fight off.
Hence the hospitalization for an expected three weeks.
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