June 2016-June 2024: it is the eighth anniversary of my hematopoietic stem cells graft! On June 15th, 2016 I entered room 426 in the Hematology Department at Saint Antoine Hospital in Paris. I was “prepared” to stay there for around 2 months.
During the first week, I had to have a kind of chemotherapy to wipe out my defective hematopoietic stem cells. After a few days, I started to lose my hair, so I asked a nurse to shave my head. I really did not mind, although my wife did not like it :-)!
At this point, visitors noticed a new label on my door: aplasia. No more active hematopoietic stem cells in my body, thus very weak defense against infection… tricky times!
On June 23rd, I was scheduled to receive my new stem cells from my anonymous donor (a young lady from abroad). Unfortunatly for her, she had to have two stem cells samplings, not enough stem cells were present in the first sampling…
June 24th: it took less than one hour for Marie, my nurse of the day, to inject “the good stuff”! It was the first time to do it on her own, so she was extra cautious… Although it was “a very big event”, it was no more than a regular blood transfusion…
After just a few days, my new high quality stem cells started to work efficiently, to such as extent that I moved out to aplasia quickly!
Just less than three weeks after entering my room with a view, the head of the Hematology department paid me a visit and said: well, everything is moving fast in the right direction; what about going back home on, say, July 13th? I was chocked! I was prepared to stay at least two months in the hospital, and after one month I was released!
Going back home, was a big challenge as I was still pretty weak and sensitive to infections. But my wife, my family and my friends took well care of me, so that “I survived” !
Of course, we experienced later some unexpected events, and it was a bumpy road toward full recovery! But here I am, eight years later!
I will never thank enough all the wonderful people who saved me, the doctors and nurses at the hospital (in particular my graft doctor), my anonymous donor, my family, my friends. They are all in my heart forever! I cherish them!
Looking forward to the next anniversary!
With love.
In memory of my father who used to sing this song:
ppmhk 