April 19, 2004

Main Page • John's Journal (2000-2003) • CLL Information • Contact John • Seattle Cancer Care Alliance • MD Anderson

I just wanted to have the weekend to separate myself a bit from all the evaluations, tests, and various appointments I had this past week at SCCA. Everyone at SCCA was great, but I needed a break. What better way to relax and regroup than to spend time with family? Saturday was a fun filled day spent at the fair, watching the parade, having a barbeque and lying around in the family room with the boys watching a movie and eating popcorn. Just what the doctor ordered. By days end the stress of the week had drifted away.


Today it was back up to Seattle. Started the day off with another visit to the SCCA dentist. Everything looks good except for the fact that I need to start flossing regularly and have a filling smoothed out. It is very important that I am in good dental health prior to transplant because dental work during transplant isn't an option with my immune system compromised. In addition, the transplant team doesn't want complications resulting from infections in the mouth.

 

After a quick meeting with my pharmacist I met with one of the transplant donor coordinators. It was an interesting visit. As of today they are
performing the final physical examination to clear my donor for donating her stem cells. I will not be getting mature bone marrow cells drawn from the donor's pelvis. Instead, they will begin giving her growth factor for the five consecutive days leading up to my transplant. As she starts her growth factor treatments, I start my pre-transplant chemotherapy and radiation. At this point, we are in sync. The growth factor she receives will force stem cells (infant marrow cells) out of her marrow and into her peripheral blood stream. On the fifth day, my transplant day, they will connect her with an IV on both arms. Blood will be drawn out of one arm, stem cells will be removed through a process called Apheresis, and her blood will circulate back into her body via the opposite arm. They will try and get all the marrow stem cells needed from her in one day, but often it takes two days to get amount needed. The advantage of using stem cells is their increased potency and ability to engraft quicker. The process of donating stem cells doesn't harm the donor in any way, but it is a little uncomfortable and does require quite a commitment. Donors are carefully screened and interviewed to be sure they will not back out at the last minute. In most cases, the recipients own marrow has been destroyed by pre-transplant chemotherapy and radiation. Without the donor's marrow, the patient would die. Due to the importance of getting the donor's marrow to me in a safe and timely manner, SCCA will send my transplant coordinator half way around the world to the donor's hospital to transport the marrow back to me. I hope the transplant coordinator doesn't get lost. I told her to handcuff the cooler to her wrist.

I will never be able to properly thank the donor for giving me the hope of a cure from my leukemia. I hope we can meet someday so my family and I can express our gratefulness for what she has done. I think I can send her a picture as long as it doesn't contain my last name or any other personal information. I will probably send the picture of my family which appears at the front page of this website. It say's a lot about the donor when you understand that they are saving the life of an absolute stranger. However, I can think of no greater honor than saving the life of another human being.

An encouraging passage our pastor referenced in his sermon last Sunday. As always, it spoke write to me. I need to keep my focus on the big picture, not on my momentary troubles:

" Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corr 4:16-18

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