The Game Plan

The appointment at the BMT clinic yesterday was hopeful. We were able to develop a bit of a timeline.

Tomorrow, I get my last dose of (this type of) chemo. Then, on the 25th, it's off to KU Med for a PET scan to get a good idea of what we're dealing with at this point. We will have an appointment a few hours later with one of my doctors to discuss the scan, and where we go from there depends on what we see. If we see a lot of disease still, then we will plan on a high dose chemo to prepare for the transplant. If I'm mostly in remission, it will be a lower dose chemo. If there is no evidence of disease, it will be a very low dose chemo. Either way, it will be 6-8 days of chemo, and a total of 4-6 weeks inpatient at KU Med.

That's right. The first month of this one is all in the hospital.

Which is kind of a relief, actually. I won't have to go back to Hope Lodge, which was a really wonderful place to stay, but I just have too many bad memories there. Also, I feel safe knowing that if I have a problem or a reaction, I have nurses and doctors right there to help.

So, anyhoo. On the 26th, it will be tons of tests and appointments with various medical professionals. Labs, EKG, X-rays, bone marrow biopsy (ugh). Nutritionist, Psychiatrist, etc. Then, on the the week of the 31st, we'll have the consent conference. That's where I sign all of the paperwork to consent to the procedure, and we go through everything one more time. Then we'll get me checked in to KU Med, get another tri-fusion catheter put in my chest, and start chemo. Meanwhile, my sister will start getting Neupogen injections to rev up her white blood cell production. After a few days of injections, they'll collect her stem cells through apheresis, and in the same day, give them to me. It doesn't get fresher than that!

Then, we wait. And check. And wait. For my white blood cell count to rise. They'll monitor my labs, and look for engraftment, watch for rejection and Graft-Versus-Host Disease. I will be, once again, without an immune system. Eventually, my sister's stem cells will replace mine completely, replacing weak for strong, and I will have her bone marrow. I'll even have her blood type. I hope I get her hair.

Once the stem cells have engrafted, it's daily lab work ups, and while I'll still have to be in KC, I'll be discharged from the hospital. My immune system will still be very compromised.

Then, at a hundred days, we'll do another bone marrow biopsy (ugh). And if my understanding is correct, what we want to see is that my bone marrow is 100% Laura's cells.

So that's the plan.

Now, if you'll excuse me, a very cute little dude just woke up from his nap, and we have a play date in the park with Henry.