Visit to Vandy

Well, it was a very long day today. I got up at 4am this morning to be out the door by 5:00 to get to my 9:00 appointment at Vandy. I made really good time and got there a little after 8:00. This morning I had an EKG, chest x-ray, TB test, and bloodwork. The afternoon was spent talking with the Nurse Practitioner and Transplant Doc. So far I have passed my tests with flying colors but, Kara still has more tests tomorrow....the biggies...PET and MUGA scans. The PET scan will show whether she is still in remission and the MUGA will show her heart function. The Nurse Practitioner had another cancer patient come in and talk to us about his transplant. He had the same kind of transplant that Kara will be getting and he is doing great almost a year out. He gave her his phone number in case she had any questions or wanted to talk. She is pretty much petrified of the whole process and just wants to get the show on the road. There are more risks involved with a donor transplant but there is also a better cure rate. There are a list of complications a mile long...the biggie being Graft Vs. Host disease which is what you hear about when people reject donor organs and such. The doctor explained that a little GVH is good because my immune system will go in and attack any stray cancer cells that might be hidden. They will be monitoring that closely. There should be minimal GVH since I was a perfect match. It's alot to process and no 26 year old wants to be signing a living will.

I also wanted to mention that the staff at the Stem Cell Transplant Clinic are super and seem to really care about their patients. Dr. Kassem, the transplant doc, was really positive, as was the Nurse Practitioner, Liz.

So what we know for now is that the transplant will probably happen in the next couple of weeks pending her test results tomorrow. I will be there with her for the first 7 days or so. I will get an injection of a bone marrow stimulate for the first 5 days then collection will take 1-2 days (4 hrs a sitting). We should know for sure the exact dates tomorrow.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. Keep them coming!