Kevin, Write down the medications and things the doctor says. We can help you make sense of it. You are probably on Zometa which is an infusion you get once a month to strengthen your bones by taking calcium from your blood and putting it back into your bones. It is usually given over 20 mins. If it gives you side effects, there is another drug that does the same thing, Aredia, that is given over 2 hours that does not give you side effects. The procedure that they probably want to do to repair your back is a kyphoplasty, it raises the space between your vertebrae and puts a cement type material in there. It helps with the pain. Love, Marcia 🌸

When you fracture a vertebrae it collapses like a deflated balloon,can not imagine the pain you must be in. A stem cell transplant starts with you taking Nupugen for a month,it is a needle in the abdomen,then you go to the hospital and they hook you up with an IV in each arm and they run it through a fancy machine that separates and collects the stem cells and then it is returned back into your IV then they freeze them in nitrogen,then they give you a really heavy chemo treatment and the next day they bring the stem cells too your room and unthaw them then they put them back in through an IV. It sounds complicated but it really is not that big a deal too go through and other than the needles and IVs it is not that painful. They wanted 9 million cells and I gave them 19 million so they had enough too do me twice but the chemo knocks the hell out of you for a long time. It takes 4 hours too do the stem cell harvest.

You have an IV in each arm and your blood goes through a machine that collects the stem cells and then returns your blood back into you and I think it took 4 hours.

Akkat, I'm so new to all of this. I collapsed outside my house from major back pain, was put on a muscle relaxer and went into anaflaltic shock. Rushed to the hospital and after an iv, 2 eppie pens, a steroid breathing treatment, 2xrays and an MRI, rushed to Houston by ambulance and in ICU for 2 days I was diagnosed. Has definitely been life altering for me. Half the time I don't know what I'm supposed to feel or do. Confusing times

Going on four years on Revlimd 10mg maintenance program 21 days on 7 days off.
Your stem cells are harvested with a system that looks like a kidney diealosys unit. You're going to be fine.