Harvesting of Stem Cells

Harvesting of Stem Cells

We went to UK for stem cell transplantation,as professor Powels clinic is there.

After all initial blood tests taken, confirming Anand is in remission we were advised about harvesting of stem cells.

Since parkside hospital  is in Wimbledon and  did not have the facility of harvesting, we were advised to go to london clinic for harvesting.Appointment and contacts were predone from INDIA.

Next day we went to London clinic, prescribed injection for boosting stem cells were given,and we were asked to come the following day, these injection take around 24 hours to boost stem cell production. The first day of stem cell production was not very good, we could harvest around 80000 cells, again the injections and routine of harvesting continued for 3 days till we were able  to collect around 200000 cells. Here I would like to say that only 3 or 4 harvesting can be done in 1 sitting,then after 1 month we can do harvesting again.

In England harvesting and storing the stem cells are costly, it took us around 18000 thousand pounds  for harvesting, India would be around 1.5 lakh rupees. Stem cells are absolutely necessary for transplant.

New Prescription By Dr Advani | Lenalidomide Regime | Multiple Myeloma

Diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma

Dr Advani after going through our bone marrow aspiration reports, suggested Lenalidomide regime, he was confident that this medicine would help him. By this time, I was tired, irritable , depressed and was angry with life as a whole. Wondering what this new drug and their side effects will be?

 We came back to Hyderabad, went back to Dr Dattatreya and consulted regarding this regime, he agreed and wrote the prescription and schedule for taking this medication, Dr Advani had suggested this as our first medicine ,but as our doctor wanted to try velcade we went along with him, Dr Dattatreya was feeling upset that we should have gone with Dr Advanis advice earlier, but since we had all agreed on that.......

Lenalidomide started alright and since this a tablet and Dexamethasone also a tablet, we were comfortable. This we started in June 2009 and after 2 months the result was very encouraging, his M.M. had come down to 4%, we went and did bone marrow aspiration and this also confirmed all good results. Both the doctors advised for 2 more months of Lenalidomide regime for consolidation.

The doctors also advised us that we will have to go undergo a bone marrow transplant after 2 months, so we have to decide where to do it ?

Fortunately after 2 months of lenalidomide, Anand was in complete remission, all the test were conducted, pet ct was taken, bone marrow aspiration done immunofixation, electrophorosis test, all the results were encouraging.

How To Find A Good Doctor | Multiple Myeloma

This is most important and difficult........it’s best if you can get a reference! Internet is a big tool today and Google is a very good search engine.


“There is a good list of doctors on the internet, you can also use a help of someone more internet savvy. Children are a big help. For me my daughter helped me locate a good doctor in Mumbai”.

“Our friend Dr Surendra Reddy knew of a very good Doctor in HYDERABAD, we have a "Indo American Cancer Institute" In HYDERABAD, so with his reference, we met Dr S Dattatreya and his team.”

If the doctor you meet makes you comfortable in your first meeting, he is your first doctor, “DR DATTATREYA................A LOT OF RESEARCH IS GOING ON AND EVERYYEAR WE ARE ABLE TO DEVELOPE NEW MEDICINES IN MULTIPLE MYELOMA,WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO TREAT MR ANAND SUCESSFULLY AND GIVE HIM A GOOD LIFE.”

Still we are never satisfied with one Doctor, so we went to Mumbai to meet “Dr ADVANI”. The best way is to search for him on the internet and take an appointment. Here again my daughter looked him up on internet and took an appointment for the next day.