Transplant

I met with a pulmonary specialist last week to see if I have any permanent damage to my lungs. My lungs are improving every day. I do not need my home oxygen anymore. In fact, they came and picked up the oxygen today. Then I met with my doctor up at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. He decided that the best option for me would be a mini (non-ablative) stem cell transplant. The only catch is that I still need to be in remission. So I went in Tuesday for a bone marrow biopsy. Today, I found out that there is still no leukemia in my bone marrow. The next step is to meet with the Transplant team. I am also going to get out-patient maintenance chemo every week until the transplant so that I stay in remission. The SCCA is still looking for a good donor match for me. I have a couple of unusual markers, so all of the blood samples so far have only been a 8/10 match. Next Tuesday a promising donor is getting blood drawn for typing. He/she has at least one of the unusual markers-making them a 9/10 match. That is an acceptable match.

Most of you have already heard that I spent about 3 weeks in the hospital. I went into Good Sam with a fever. I spent about a week at Good Sam. They intubated me after I was having a hard time breathing due to so much crud in my lungs. I was still running a fever. They transfered me up to the UW after about a week. The fever ran its course and I woke up and was able to start breathing on my own. The next step is a transplant. The question is if I'll do a full transplant or a mini transplant. The SCCA is working on finding the perfect match for me. I have several matches-now they are collecting samples from potential donors to get the best match.

Some Fun Easter Pictures

The family and I were able to enjoy Easter together. Here is some of the highlights : )

I went in to UW for my 6th round of chemotherapy. I was there for 4 days. I did not feel the usual nausea and vomiting that I usually feel after chemo. Instead, I got bad mouth sores from the methatrexate. The only thing that really helps is liquid lidocaine swish, but even that does not last long. Two days after getting out of the hospital I had a blood check. I was trying to talk the nurse out of me needing a platelet transfusion and my nose started to bleed spontaneously while I was talking to her! Needless to say, she made me stay for a transfusion. Couple of days later I was in for a blood transfusion. And now today I am getting another platelet transfusion. All within one week. This is really a full time job.

As for the stem cell transplant, my brother and I have both been HLA typed. We'll find out in a couple of weeks if we are a match or not. I have an appointment with the SCCA Dr. on April 15th to find out if the decision is to finish out chemotherapy or do the transplant.

I've been wearing hats all winter, but full coverage hats are hard to find for the summer. I'm thinking about starting to wear my wig when I leave the house. It is starting to grow on me. At first I felt like a bank robber. But, the other day the woman behind the deli counter said she liked my haircut.

My bone marrow biopsy revealed that I have no leukemia. The problem is that my bone marrow is "too tired" to continue on the chemo regimen that was planned for me. My Dr. has decided to start me on the process of getting ready for a bone marrow transplant. This is what I was hoping to avoid since the beginning. It means having a caregiver 24 hours a day, getting an apartment up in Seattle, and lots of medical expenses. I have one last try at avoiding needing a bone marrow/stem cell transplant. The Dr. has switched a couple of my medications that may have immunosuppressive side effects. I will go in for my 6th round of chemo tomorrow. If I can get my counts back up in a timely matter I may be able avoid the transplant. I have been typed for the transplant. My brother, Nick, will be checked. He has a 1/4 chance of being a match. If not they will go to the National Database to look for an anonymous donor.

Since my last round of chemo I have been feeling really well. We even took a weekend trip to the Hood Canal. It was really nice to get away. The only problem had been my blood counts. They have not been coming up. Each round of chemo knocks the blood counts to nearly zero, but then as my bone marrow recovers it is supposed to bring my counts back up so that I can get the next round of chemo. I have had to have several blood and platelet transfusions to just keep me going. (Thanks again to all the donors out there : ) I had to go in for a bone marrow biopsy on Friday to see why my counts are not coming back up. The fear is that the cancer is back and messing with my bone marrow. The hope is that the bone marrow is just slow to recover because of the severity of the chemo. I'll find out the results sometime next week. I'll end this blog on a positive note and post some pics from our trip to the Hood Canal.