Hello Houston, we have an answer!

GOOD NEWS, my SCT will take place on Tuesday August 14^th. Here are some critical dates, should you be keeping score:

• July 24^th, Leslie & I arrive to Houston
• July 25^th, I start a load of tests (outpatient) that will run through the end of the month.
• Aug. 1^st, I start chemo “lite” actually it’s not chemo it’s a monoclonal drug. I don’t know what the rest of the week's "conditioning" schedule is at this time.
• Aug. 7^th (inpatient for approx. next 23 days) more treatment/"conditioning", including radiation “lite”.
• Aug. 14^th, SCT, I receive the donor’s stem cells.
• Aug. 15^th is considered day one. We are to be in the Houston area until at least day 100 (non-negotiable). Day 100 is on or about Thanksgiving Day.
• Aug. 30^th. This is a guess respecting the date. God willing, I revert back to being an outpatient for the remaining 84 days. During those 84 days & especially towards the front-end, our time will be packed with clinic appointments, sometimes several a day.

So, another piece of the puzzle falls into place. Now we wait for our housing to be resolved. More importantly, I started this day hoping for good news on Leslie’s birthday and sure enough, we got what we were hoping for. Coincidence or a prayer answered?

Stan

Slow Day

June 27, 2007

Well, as of noon today, we are on 5 housing organizations' waiting lists. They make apartments available to patients and their families who are getting medical treatment at Houston's medical center. Most of the organizations are faith based and represent 20+ churches, synagogues, and the American Cancer Society. Collectively, I'd guess they control over 200 apartments which are sub-let to patients at a reduced rate ranging from free to $40.00 per day. Many are in walking distance from the medical center area, which includes MDACC as well as probably 25 other hospitals, medical research centers, and university medical schools. Persons can sub-let the apartments ranging in time from 2 weeks minimum to 3 months maximum. The American Cancer Society has arrangements with local hotels which make rooms available for free up to half-price for a maximum stay of 7 days. I'd say that the Houston "medical center" is larger than downtown Albany and as reported recently in one of our largest weekly business magazines, is the largest combined medical area in the country. The article went on to say that it is twice as large as the combined area of NYC hospitals, etc. A report I saw last year stated that over 150,000 people visit the medical center area each day. MDACC alone has between 19,000 and 22,000 employees and they are not the largest employer in the medical center. I hope I got that right, regardless the point was made- it is "huge".

So again we wait but we're one day closer to nailing down a specific transplant date. Leslie and I expect we'll know the date by tomorrow at the latest. It would be nice to have it today in that TODAY IS LESLIE'S BIRTHDAY. She has been a blessing to me for the past 29 years. Oh, did I happen to mention that Saturday is our 28th wedding anniversary? Keep those well wishes flowing-in.

Stay cool,

Stan

August 15 or 16 the SCT begins

We were notified this morning that the donor has scheduled his/her stem cell harvest dates as Aug. 13 & 14. From this, we believe the infusion of the donor's stem cells to me, will take place either Aug. 15th or 16th. This is wonderful news! We have given our MUD Coordinator (Matched Unrelated Donor) Wednesday August 1st as the date I will be available for further testing & conditioning. We are hopeful she can spin her magic & fit all of my testing & conditioning (chemo "lite" & full body radiation "lite") within the 15 day window. Otherwise, we'll have to give up some days in July to get everything done.

Many friends have asked, just how do they get the donor's stem cells (SC)? It is rather simple in that a week or more before the harvesting begins, the donor receives a series of shots to stimulate his (we will refer to the donor as being a male although that may not be the actual case) production of SC. These shots often cause the donor significant bone pain, which will last until a few days beyond his last shot. On Aug. 13th, the nearest collection center to where the donor lives (the donor will not come to Houston) will take charge & place the donor in one of their comfortable patient chairs; put a needle in one arm to draw his blood, the blood will past though a machine similar to an aferesis machine. Here the needed blood products are separated by the machine & the remaining blood is returned to the donor via needle into his other arm. The process of harvesting the blood products will take at least 4-6 hours per day. When the harvesting process is completed on Aug.14th, a representative from the National Marrow Donor Program (located in MN) takes the harvested blood, puts it into a cooler & heads off to the airport to catch the earliest flight to Houston, Texas. We do not know my donor's name nor do we know where he lives. He could live in Buffalo, NY or Berlin, Germany. Regardless, once the transporter (that was a strange but good movie,the sequel was even better) arrives, I believe that's when the transplant takes place. I will receive the SC as an IV infusion probably along with a bag of saline solution. Leslie will be taking pictures of the event. The entire infusion process will take 20-30 minutes.

It seems very odd that all of the time, effort, money, & stress involved with making the decision, patient screening, donor searching & screening, coordination at MDACC, my further testing, chemo, & radiation, travel, etc. leads us to just a 30 minute walk-in-the-park event.

As more information becomes available to us, will share it with you. Sooner or later, we will begin a daily diary. Until the next time, stay well & keep those prayers & good wishes coming in.

Stan

donor is getting his/her physical

We got news today that our donor is scheduled for his/her physical on July 17th. What that means is a) the donor is going forward with the transplant and b) the transplant must take place within a month of the physical--sooooo looks like middle of August. (but still no DEFINATE date yet.)