After months of waiting, I finally have more information about the transplant, however the decision to have the transplant is entirely mine. For those who don't know, I can confirm that I may possibly be the most indecisive person alive - a trait that I thought I could pass off as a cute little quirk. Not anymore. I am now faced with what may be the most important decision of my life.
As things stand right now, I have completed the regular course of treatment for AML and am in remission. That was the easy part. Now I need to stay in remission. If I chose to continue on with my life as if the last three months have been just a speed bump there is a 30-40% chance I will relapse. If the cancer comes back it may not be beaten as easily next time.
I've said before that Chelsea is a match. She is as perfect a match you can find aside from an identical twin. The good news is that transplant cuts the odds of relapse in half. The bad news is that transplant comes with its own pile of side effects which make the survival rate about the same as doing nothing at all.
Should I chose to go with the transplant I am looking at a long recovery process. With stem cell transplants rejection occurs in the opposite way to a traditional organ transplant. Instead of the host (me) attacking the foreign substance in the body, the graft (donor) attacks the host and we get what is called Graft versus Host Disease. This happens when the donor stem cells see the new body as foreign and attack various tissues. A small degree of GVHD is favourable in curing the leukemia, however too much can cause serious problems and in some cases, death. I have my age and the fact that Chelsea is such a close match working in my favour, but no one can predict how a body will react in this situation.
If this wasn't enough to think about, I have to consider that the transplant will likely leave me infertile. Oh... And one more thing... I mentioned before that my sister has her own health problems... There is a good chance that they will also become mine.
All this to consider and me with no crystal ball... Stay tuned...
time to buy a magic 8 ball ;)
ReplyDeleteAs some fancy-pants author once said "I don't have a solution, but I certainly admire the problem."
ReplyDeleteTough call on that one, Brandini... I'm around to chat if you need.
Hey Brandi... one solution that may or may not work for you is to freeze and store your eggs so that should the transplant leave you infertile, you can still have children if you want them... Good luck making your decision... it is not an easy one.
ReplyDeleteElise