Transplant Moving Along

I have my first transplant meeting on June 22 at the SCCA with my new team....The Transplant Team. Then the next 2 weeks will be spent getting all the work up necessary for the transplant, chest x-ray, CT and PET scans, bone marrow biopsy, Hickman (central line) placement, re-staging, echo cardiogram, lung function test, ect. I have to mention that I hated the Hickman and begged to have it taken out when my Dr. told me I wouldn't need a transplant. So much for that. It has 3 lines that hang straight out of your chest past your belly button. No swimming, and it has to be complely covered to shower and half the time it still gets wet. I am hoping that they can put it back where the scars are from the last one. I guess a port is not enough. On July 9th I start the chemotherapy and radiation for the transplant. On July 14th is the actual stem-cell transplant. I have to move up to Seattle on July 9th, where I will be living for the next 2-4 months. I am hoping for the 2 months : ) I have to have a caregiver for the the entire 2-4 months. I will hopefully only be in the hospital this time for a day. (As long as I still qualify for the mini-transplant) The rest is done outpatient. After the transplant, I go into the SCCA everyday for blood draws and fluids/transfusions as needed. The actual stem cell transplant is pretty uneventful, it's the blood counts coming back up and recovery from chemo and radiation that is the hardest. Getting an infection in the first couple of weeks before your body starts producing cells (esp. white blood cells) is dangerous. There is also the risk of GVHD (graft versus host disease). This can be acute or long term and presents is different ways. The new immune system from the donor can attack your own body. This can affect your GI tract, lungs, skin, stomach, ect. The new immune system also attacks the leukemia cells, because it recognizes them as bad-while my body doesn't. Oh and by the way... I have a 10/10 match for the transplant. All I know about the person is that they are from out of country, most likely a female, most likely from Germany or Italy, and the stem cells are coming from a reputable cancer center. They do not tell you anything else until 1 year post transplant if both parties agree. If this person doesn't pass the physical or decides not to go ahead with donation-I am out of luck because I do not have any other matches. Luckily, there is one person out there (on the registry) that matches me perfectly : ) I was told that only 30% of people that need transplants find matching donors, so I am feeling pretty lucky. I am still on 3 oral chemo drugs and one IV chemo drug, but I am feeling good and growing back some hair. I am almost to the point I might feel comfortable in public with no hat on. almost.