Bill Walsh Bill walsh

As you all know Bill has been fighting multiple myeloma over the last seven years.  He has been extremely lucky compared to the typical MM patient. This is why his doctors refer to him as the miracle man. We have reached the point in Bill's fight that he has to undergo a stem cell transplant. It will be an autologous transplant which means he does not need a donor, he will be getting his own stem cells transplanted back into him once his intensive chemo treatment is complete. His journey will begin on Monday March 27th. Monday, he will go in the hospital just overnight where they give him the higher dose of Cytoxan. This is what he is having now, it is just stronger. This is to help separate the stem cells from the bone marrow.  They have to wait two weeks to begin the extraction. The week of April 10th he will start his stem cell collection. He will go everyday 2-3 hours. This will last as long as needed to collect enough for multiple transplants. The week of April 18th he will go into the hospital for the actual transplant. He will be in there at least 2-3 weeks. He gets a high dose of Chemo (melphalam) on the first day. Second day, he will get continuous  fluids then third day his stem cells are put back in. His blood count will go really low which is why they like to keep him in hospital as a precaution. Once counts go back up, he heads home and is on his way to hopefully feeling better. I have simplified the process but it will be very rough road for Bill. I ask all of you for your positive thoughts and prayers for Bill through this difficult time.