My husband had his 2nd tranplant nine days ago. On Day + 6 they discovered Typhilitis. I understand (sort of) what this is, but what I do want to know is, will this affect his recovery time overall and/or prognosis? Obviously he is really sick right now and in quite a bit of pain in his gut. They say nothing will really improve until he engrafts (probably not for a few more days) and can begin to fight this from his own immune system. Time frame wise how long does this whole process take? Also, will this issue affect his long term maintenance therapy drugs (i.e. Thalidomide and Dex for the next year).
So sorry to hear this! Typhlitis is a pretty severe complication and often results in an infection of the blood and low blood pressure. There's a risk that he may perforate his bowel, so that needs to be checked on because if that would happen then surgery would be needed quickly.
Keep us updated on how he's doing.
As far as it affecting his maintenance therapy, overall recovery time from transplant, overall effectiveness of transplant, etc... Dr. Guido Tricot of the Huntsman Cancer Institute's Myeloma Program says that is very unlikely, unless the complication does indeed cause perforation of the bowel and surgery that would need to take place ends up delaying the maintenance therapy.
Please let me know if there's anything else we can help you with.
Myeloma Chat Moderator
Huntsman Cancer Institute's Myeloma Program
