Transplant Complications

I recently found out that a stem cell transplant causes a number of changes.  For one, I’ll have to renew all of my vaccinations.  I imagine I’ll have to sneak into a local elementary school and stand in line with first graders to repeat my early childhood shots.

But other changes may also occur such as my sense of taste.  As a person of Norwegian heritage, I enjoy at least one can of sardines each day while at work in my band room office, usually with cheese and mustard.  It not only tastes great, but it also keeps students out of my office.  They claim the smell is awful but I can’t smell anything so I decided to do an experiment.

I tested whether or not sardines smell by placing a mostly empty can in a trash can across the hall in the choir room.  To my surprise, they ran out of the room pretending to gag by the smell.  Just to be sure, I repeated the experiment at least 20 times last year with the same result.  They eventually banned me from the room.

Since the transplant may change my sense of taste, who knows what I’ll be eating when this is over.  Sweet potatoes, broccoli, even squash may be tolerable in my future.  I’ll know soon.  The transplant is still on for Tuesday.  It will start with an intense chemo and then on Thursday I'll receive an infusion of my currently frozen stem cells.