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Stella HSCT Updates 20th - 24th August

Stella is currently in a coma in ITU on a ventilator and dialysis.

Marc, her husband is maintaining her blog to keep everyone up to date on Stella's progress, which I thank him for,

You can read Marc's updates on Stella at http://tinyurl.com/msrc-HSCTBlog

We all at MSRC wish Stella a quick recovery from this latest set-back.

Marc has asked me to say she's stable, she's a fighter & even though there is no long term prognosis as yet she will get through this. Finally he I knows she wouldn't want this to put people off having a stem cell transplant for their MS if the opportunity arose.

Dear Stella, sending you best wishes for a fast recovery from the Netherlands. Been there (HSCI/ICU) just 60 days ago. In a few months from now you will have nearly forgotten this ever happened - promise

B.t.w. what do you mean with "long term prognosis"?

I am assuming that to mean that they do not know if she will survive this complication. She apparently is quite ill with infections from 2 different pathogens.

I have been following her blog. I hope she is able to rally and pull through this setback, as she has such a bright future ahead.

C

criptastic, I certainly hope so too. The reason I ask is because there are, to my best recollection, no reported fatalities in MS HSCT trials that are directly linked to the procedure itself.

That is true, but when used with other diseases, especially leukemia, HSCT fatalities do occur. Risk of infection is ever present, and she succumbed to the pathogens at the worst possible time--just a day or two after the transplant.

Stella had a Hickman line infection and sepsis following the conditioning phase of treatment, and they used the same site for the second Hickman. I can't help but wonder if there were a few pathogens still hiding out there.

I had high dose cytoxan (similar to HSCT) last November for another autoimmune disease, so am following HSCT very closely, in case I relapse sometime down the line. Currently I am quite stable, but still wish I'd known about SCT prior to having my procedure (learned about it the week I got home...)

Hang in there, Stella!!!!!

C

Marc has kindly sent in some further updates on Stella's condition, you can read the latest blog entries at http://tinyurl.com/msrc-HSCTBlog

She has C-diff, which makes perfect sense since she had powerful antibiotics for the first line infection, followed closely with chemo and more antibiotics. I so hope she can pull through this with no additional complications!

Go Stella, GOOOOO!!!!

Stella HSCT update 4th September!

Stella is awake!

Read Marc's latest update at http://tinyurl.com/msrc-HSCTBlog

Stella HSCT Updates 10th & 11th September 2011



Stella is improving bit by bit, you can read Marc's updates for the weekend on her blog at http://tinyurl.com/msrc-HSCTBlog

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Hi,

Stella did HAVE the stem cell treatment, the subsequent problems have been caused by 2 or three infective organisms which have taken advantage of her immune compromised condition.

It is still too early to tell how the stem cell treatment has done due to all the other problems, but with time and as she is healed of the infections we will hopefully know more. I will be updating Stella's blog as soon as Marc, or hopefully herself soon , gives me the updates so we will be able to be with her every step of the way.

Stella HSCT Update 12th September 2011

Stella's temperature has gone back up, so another set-back.

You can read Marc's latest update at http://tinyurl.com/msrc-HSCTBlog

Marc has sent in some new updates on Stella.

You can read the latest in Stella's recovery at http://tinyurl.com/msrc-HSCTBlog

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