After a Stem-Cell Transplant
- After a stem-cell transplant, you will be monitored closely by your medical team and stay in the hospital for a few weeks
- This is the riskiest time of the whole transplant process because of the diminished immune system and you can expect to have a fever
- Doctors will give several medications in an attempt to prevent infections
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Read More “What we don’t have is an immune system in a bag to transfer,” Dr. Costello tells SurvivorNet. “So during this time when patients’ immune systems are weak because their bone marrow is no longer there to protect them, we give the patients protective antibiotics — anti-virus medicines, anti-fungal medicines, everything to keep them safe until the new bone marrow has had its chance to get in there, plant itself like seeds and start growing little seedlings.” While this time is extremely risky, Dr. Costello notes that this is the reason people are kept in the hospital for several weeks after a transplant, so they can be monitored and treated accordingly. Some side effects, she says, are expected. “During that time I tell patients, ‘I expect you to have a fever,'” she says. “And the greatest concern through all this is, maybe you have a fever because there is a true infection. Well, that’s why we keep you in the hospital … so you have our nursing staff and our doctors caring for you on a minute-by-minute basis.”
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