Schedule change

Over many years I donated over 4 gallons of blood, stopping when the first hints of an immune problem appeared. Donating just seemed like a good thing to do, and I never expected to need any blood transfusions myself. But I have needed 6 units so far, and might need more, possibly during this transplant procedure. Now, I need stem cells from a donor. Of course I'm very thankful for the many people who have registered with the National Marrow Donor Program, since that's where my donor match was found.

What we learned just yesterday is that the donor needs to delay collection of the stem cells for a couple of days. There seems to be no problem in actually donating, just a scheduling problem. So, the date of the transplant has changed, and will not be as scheduled after all. The only negative is that it will delay my return home, but I'm very thankful to this particular donor. I hope to learn more about the schedule change today.

The good news was that I am in very good shape overall, especially after having been through 2 autologous stem cell procedures (using my own stem cells). The doctors told us yesterday that their tests show that my heart and kidneys are just fine, and best of all, the cancer is virtually undetectable, which is important for this allogeneic stem cell transplant (using a donor) to work. There may be some inflammation in my lungs, but not enough to call off the transplant.

Tomorrow I am scheduled for placement of a central line, called a Hickman catheter, by Dr. Robert Hickman himself! This catheter goes into a vein near the heart and is used for quick and easy access to blood for tests, and to administer fluids or antibiotics should I need them. The stem cells go in through that catheter, as well. The dangling lines are kind of a pain, but I've managed before.

Why am I having a transplant? That's because I have multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood, specifically a certain plasma cell that proliferates, causing lots of problems. It can't be cut out, unfortunately, but at least it doesn't usually spread, although it can. One of the best treatments for myeloma so far is a stem cell transplant. That has worked well for me both times, using my own stem cells. Unfortunately, though, the cancer came back sooner than we hoped. We knew it would be back, but I actually hoped that it would be after a better treatment was developed. I am in remission now, from the last autologous transplant, but a donor transplant has the additional potential benefit of setting up an immune system response to attack the cancer on-going. Rather than have a remission of 1 year or less and go back on chemotherapy again, we are hoping for something close to a cure. No guarantees, of course.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and well wishes.