Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving here in the US. One of my favorite holidays. It is very still and cold, blue sky and sunshine, fabulous fall foliage. Families traditionally gather to feast and reflect on all they have to be thankful for. Turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, yams, pumpkin pie seem to be the staples. We spent all day yesterday out at Stanford so two quiet days coming up. Andrew had been feeling pretty darn tired and no wonder ... very low red blood cell count ... and a few pints should perk him up for Thanksgiving. He is half way to day 100 (when he goes from being outpatient to clinic patient). Another blood test was drawn specifically to check engraftment count again yesterday (should have results in a week to 10 days) and he is about to start to slowly reduce the immune suppressing drugs. As the new immune system "wakes up" (the t-cells/killer cells) it will decide how to respond to its new/foreign environment. This is when graft versus host disease can rear it's ugly head. It's a bit of a catch 22. You want some "action" (recognition of the cancer cells and fighting them) but you don't want them to fight the good cells. Having a related donor should help. Kate flew home this week. It was so wonderful to have her for the 10+ weeks. She looked after Andrew (and the rest of us), the kids loved having their grandma around and I got to do some great runs etc. while she looked after the home front. Our place has never been cleaner and we have never eaten so well. Thanks Mum ... we are all very thankful for your help.

84% ...a High Distinction!

Ever since the slow start out of the blocks Andrew has soared over the hurdles smoothly. He tolerated the treatment well (first hurdle) and now has engrafted nicely. Results are in - 84% of blood cells are his donor, Grant's. That is a very promising result 35 days post transplant. Andrew says he gives himself an HD for that result. Next hurdle will be in about a month. If the trend of engraftment continues upwards, they will slowly start to "ween" Andrew off the immunosuppression drugs. This will "wake up" the T-cells. They will be Grant's T-cells and they will decide if they are OK living with Andrew's organs etc. or if they recognise them as foreign and decide to attack them. This is what they call graft (Grant) vs host (Andrew) disease GVHD and can come in all sorts of unwanted forms. Close monitoring and quick responses (drugs) etc. will continue to deal with any problems. We continue to come out here to Stanford regularly and have blood tests and chest x-rays etc. and adjust the meds. With a brand new immune system (like a baby) and immune suppression drug therapy, Andrew still has to live in his bubble .... special diet/foods, special mask to go outside, no doors or windows open, keep away from maddening crowds, no driving .... He is happy spending his days on the computer and is talking about bringing his bike in on the trainer to start training again....soon.
Angus turned 10 y.o. on the 5th. He wanted an icecream cake which Andrew isn't allowed so mum made Andrew his favorite cake too.   Andrew was first diagnosed a couple of months before Angus was born so he is over 10 years into this journey now.
Other news ... I joined Team in Training for another season to raise funds for Leukemia/Lymphoma Society (the training will also help keep in check the upward trend on the scales that is directly related to the good food my mum has been spoiling us with for the last couple of months) ... and my mum's time here is running out . Sadly, we will have to say farewell before the month is out. She has been such a rock and we are all going to miss her dreadfully. We wish we could hang on to her forever ... but we can't.

21 Years.

Out at Stanford for the usual checks and treatments. Last Friday they took blood to check for the percentage of cells that have engrafted. Takes a week so might not have that result today. Eagerly awaiting it though. The hope is for 50% or higher but if not, there is a full arsenal of drugs etc. to manipulate things apparently. Today we celebrate regardless .... 21st wedding anniversary .... looking back on so many wonderful, wonderful times and looking forward to many more.