I am receiving a bone marrow transplant from a donor in another Country whose marrow is a 100% match to mine. I am looking for other riders and trainers who have had this procedure.
My current doctor is making it sound like I can’t even step in to the barn for six months. Help!
A very good friend had the procedure two years ago…it was quite the journey and yes he had to have a room that was cleaned out of everything and we could not see him for months. Of course this was during COVID so extra careful. Sending vibes that all goes well for you!!
So it sounds like they did their post procedure three months of bubble at home… What I am interested in is how they manage their reentry into being in the barn and around Horses. Do you have any insight there? Do you think your friend would be willing to talk to me about it?
Honestly they were more concerned about people germs, not animal! He would go for nature walks in the middle of the day and wear a mask when he was well enough. He’s doing great now!
My mom had this procedure a few years ago. She couldn’t even keep her houseplants that she had for decades because the doctors were worried the soil was harboring some bacteria. She didn’t garden for at least a year. Her dog came and lived with me for 6 months before he could go back.
Everything is back to normal now, and was probably after ~2 years (phasing in risks along the way). I encourage you to talk to your doctors about how important this is for you and see if there are some trade offs you can make.
Did your mother do her initial three month recovery at home, or in a facility near the hospital? Meaning, did she go directly home after the transplant? Or was she in an intermediary highly managed situation before going home?
I believe she spent the first month in the hospital, then 2 months in a nearby managed facility. Then she went home 3 months after the procedure.
My friend had to stay a month in hospital and a month in a “clean” room at home.
@Arlomine When is your procedure? I hope everything goes according to plan and your recovery is smooth sailing.
Congratulations! Horses don’t carry many pathogens infectious to humans but the spores, etc in a barn could be the issue until your immunity is fully reconstituted so maybe that’s the concern. Hang in there. Even if really 6 months you got this!
Yes! I can’t speak to your upcoming transplant, but I can tell you that six months is a blip. A long, lousy blip, but a blip nonetheless. Due to [reasons, nothing as drastic as your reason], I was away from horses completely for 12 years (!) in my late 30s and my 40s. Got back on and very quickly was back in the swing of things.
As you slog through the time away from the barn, remember: It’s a BLIP!
Well… I get that six months is not a long time in the grand scheme of things but I’m a trainer. And I manage the barn.
Oh, that’s different. No comparison to my situation, no comparison at all.
My dad had a severe autoimmune issue and his infectious disease doctor warned that the risks present at the barn weren’t from the horses specifically, but the many endemic pathogens present in soil (histoplasmosis and nocardia to name a couple) that can be airborne and difficult to avoid/prevent. Adding to that the likely presence of rodents, birds and bats make it a dangerous place to someone with a compromised immune system. Wishing you the best on a successful procedure and speedy recovery, but would imagine some significant time away from the barn will be inevitable to ensure your safety.
Six years ago my sister ended up getting a stem cell transplant at 37 due to relapsed leukemia. For approx the first month she was in-patient in a very sterile environment and it was touch-and-go for some time. She then spent a few months in a quiet house away from the public, most friends, etc, slowly re-acclimating as she got all her immunizations back on board again and just got stronger little by little. Probably over 18 months after the transplant, she brought her kids out to the barn one day to see me ride. She was in the fairly clean barn for maybe a total of 30-40 min, not in a stall etc. Within a week she had been diagnosed with a fungal pneumonia out of nowhere. No one would ever blame the barn out loud, but the timing was too suspicious and I felt awful about it.
Another anecdote that is possibly unrelated but speaks to @VolteSomeday’s post: last winter I was diagnosed with a lung lesion/nodule with no prior history of any lung issues but with a long relationship with immune-related problems (catching viruses easily, prone to inflammation, not healing well). My care team ended up not being able to pinpoint the cause even after biopsy (we still watch it carefully), but the infectious disease specialist I saw was convinced the origin was fungal/something uncommon due to my crappy immune system and being in a barn around all manner of wildlife.
ETA: Before my sister’s experience, I never even knew anyone who had been through a transplant. I think two of the the things that make it so very difficult on your immune system are that 1) you are essentially zeroing out your old immune system so that your new one can take root and 2) you are very often having to use steroids to save yourself from graft-vs-host disease, which is a whole other bucket of dangerous worms. You are just walking such a fine line in that first year.
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