Bone marrow, or stem cell, transplant (BMT or SCT) is a relatively new concept. It is done for many reasons, in my life it's done mostly for multiple myeloma and leukemia patients. However, I have a friend with a nine month old who is having a SCT from cord blood because he is suffering from Severe Combined Immuno-Deficiency, or SCID. The hope for him, as well as for the patients I see more often getting these transplants, is that chemotherapy will wipe out the "bad" bone marrow and the stem cells will replace it with "good" cells.
This process is obviously not without huge risks. There are the well known side effects of chemo that patients have to look forward to as well as the increased potential threat of infection due to literally having no immune system for a short period of time.
These patients get the strictest education about what to expect and the rules that will be followed before, during, and after transplant. Because of the high risk of infection, they are usually started on a prophylactic antibiotic, antiviral, and antifungal. They are also made to exercise before and after in a way to preserve energy (sounds counter-intuitive, I know) and promote healing. Also, nutrition is focused on heavily - both to make sure they are eating and to make sure the food they are eating is safe for consumption (no fresh fruits & veggies, everything cooked to and eaten at proper temperature, etc.).
There's so much more to talk about on this topic, hopefully at a later date. Does your facility provide BMT/SCT? Do they follow similar procedures, or how are they different?
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