Phase One, Day Two

I had about a bazillion things done today. EKG, panorex dental x-ray, chest x-ray, and a consultation with a new doc about options.

Tomorrow is a bone marrow biopsy, some blood work, and a consult (after being doped up for the biopsy).

I was strongly reminded that the transplant process I'm about to endure will not cure me. I have to wrap my brain around that fact.

I will not be cured.

The best we can hope for is for me to be disease free for some time. If everything works out OK, I could get 7 years. On the other hand, I could get 9 months. Reality exists somewhere in between. Typically, patients get 2 years.

Damn, all that work. All that money. All that effort for a measly 2 years.

But it gets more complex than that. See, they take enough cells to do 2 transplants. In a reasonable number of cases, the disease recurs within 90 to 120 days after the first transplant. Sometimes they simply manage the symptoms for a while and then do another transplant, but the best results seem to happen if they go directly to a second transplant as soon as the disease returns.

My second option is an allogenaic (?) transplant from a sibling or HLA matching donor. Well, my brother isn't a useable donor, and my sister probably won't match my HLA type. This would leave me with the option of an HLA matching donor, but the mortality rate (due to graft vs host disease) is as high as 50%. Not my cuppa!

So, gimme a while to absorb the fact that I'll probably die within 2 years and that life will semi-suck until then. Sorry to be so morose, but I've gotta adjust.