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Adirondack Mountains, Feb. 2007
Tale of a Cord Blood Transplantee Who Relapses and Goes on to Have a Matched Unrelated-Donor Transplant
The Weight
Adirondack Mountains, Feb. 2007
ABOUT ME
In March 2006, I was diagnosed with a blood cancer called Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Life as I knew it came to a crashing halt. After enduring a month in the hospital where I received intense chemotherapy, I was declared "in remission." I had three additional treatments and remained cancer-free until May 2007, when I relapsed.
My only shot at survival was to have a stem cell transplant. However, my brothers' immune markers didn't match mine, and an international search of bone marrow registries found no perfect matches. A transplant using the blood from two umbilical cords was recommended. I grasped at this straw in September 2007. It seemed to work.
This blog tells the story of my transplant and recovery, replete with outrageous slings and arrows. The expression "blood is thicker than water" has new meaning for me. I remained alive due to the blood of strangers, two of them, both male. Thanks guys.
The plot thickened when I relapsed 19 months into my new remission and had to go through the same rigamarole once more. This time, I received stem cells from a matched adult donor who was identified last go round but didn't fit into the necessary time frame. Charles Dickens could have fun with this, the stuff of pulp fiction.
I remain in remission 4 years later. My donor keeps leukemic cells in check but finds interesting ways to attack my body. Chronic graft versus host disease keeps me firmly entrenched in the medical world. And so it goes.
My only shot at survival was to have a stem cell transplant. However, my brothers' immune markers didn't match mine, and an international search of bone marrow registries found no perfect matches. A transplant using the blood from two umbilical cords was recommended. I grasped at this straw in September 2007. It seemed to work.
This blog tells the story of my transplant and recovery, replete with outrageous slings and arrows. The expression "blood is thicker than water" has new meaning for me. I remained alive due to the blood of strangers, two of them, both male. Thanks guys.
The plot thickened when I relapsed 19 months into my new remission and had to go through the same rigamarole once more. This time, I received stem cells from a matched adult donor who was identified last go round but didn't fit into the necessary time frame. Charles Dickens could have fun with this, the stuff of pulp fiction.
I remain in remission 4 years later. My donor keeps leukemic cells in check but finds interesting ways to attack my body. Chronic graft versus host disease keeps me firmly entrenched in the medical world. And so it goes.
Blog Archive
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2008
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February
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- Yes We Can. No I Can't.
- My 15 Minutes of CyberFame
- Knit One, Stir One
- The Word According to Fort Greene
- Live Blogging from Brooklyn
- Sense of Urgency
- I Approve This Post
- We Don't Have Feisty Fidel to Kick Around Anymore
- Pilgrimage to Plymouth 2008
- Fare Thee Well Pill Caddy
- Freak Seats
- I Accidently Drink Alcohol
- Hair of the Dog
- A Staggering Sum of Incredible Coinage
- Diary of a Mad Housewife
- Light Reddish Chestnut
- Ash Blond Wednesday?
- Bleak Day in Bean-Town
- Busyness
- Young Blood
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February
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3 comments:
Couldn't figure out where these photos were from Cuba came to mind....but most wasn't in Spanish....I guess Fidel was on my mind! Its wierd to read this blog but not actually talk to you its like living on one side of a two way mirror.....which side am I on?
I hope to see you both...all sometime soon ..tell Mariel to go to Banos and take the bus down to the Amazon for a white knuckle amazing ride.....Emma
Awesome photos!
brave, I decided to take a page from your book. You know what they say about imitation ...
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