Hi,
Had allo Stem Cell Transplant 5½ years ago & doing really well!
But the best advice given by Haemotolgy Ward staff was ’ put on as much weight as possible prior to your transplant’. It stood me in good stead throughtout.
I couldn’t agree more. Post transplant I lost about 3 stone, dropping from 16 to 13, thanks to a very poor appetite, nausea and sickness which lasted for weeks. Having the extra weight on no doubt helped. In fact in the induction stages of my treatment I actually put weight on, probably due to an increased appetite because of the steroids I was on.
I remember well the conditioning week before transplant day- the 3 course lunches and dinners, all the puddings and custard, maybe it was the plan to fatten us up. Things changed about day 5 when the full effects of chemo started to kick in. Then everything went downhill and meals seemed to be for picking and pushing round the plate. But I did enjoy the Complan with ice cream, the cream crackers and ice lollies.
I too lost about 3 stone on discharge. For the first time in over 40 years I had to send my wife out for a pair of trousers with a 2 inch shorter waist.
Slowly the weight came back, for me a bit more than before but I put that down to the cakes and the time of year! I used to feel guilty about the cakes but I kid myself that I have earned them. Diets are for tomorrow, life’s too short.
On doctor’s orders, I ate A LOT before my transplant, in the expectation of losing the weight again pretty quickly, but am now on Day +31 and am not far below my admission weight! I suppose it’s a good thing that I’ve been managing to eat, despite not having much appetite and having not been able to taste much due to a bout of 'flu, but who knows whether I’ll ever get back to my previous weight… I realise there’s still plenty of time for illness/side-effect-enforced dieting, though…
I didn’t put weight on prior to transplant, and I also didn’t lose any weight whilst in hospital. I spent 2 x 4 weeks treating AML and then a further 4 weeks for my bone transplant. I was actually about 2lb heavier! I think you need to be a healthy weight, but able to lose a stone even if you were well without it having a detrimental effect. I could have lost 2 stone and been ok (I wish I had!!!) but as I say I remained the same. We are all different.