Space Needles are like Regular Needles, Right?

News! So very, very much news.

This morning, I went down to the Cancer Centre for my usual pre-chemo bloodwork and consultation with my doctor (chemo is tomorrow; sixth and final). My bloodwork, of course, came back with no unusual elements, as it has done the last five times in a row. No news there. No, where the news comes in is that my doctors have:

1) Found a 9/10 HLA matched donor.

2) Been in contact with the transplant centre in Seattle.

The first is simple, and welcome. A good match has been found! It's not perfect, but it will certainly serve. Hooray, huzzah, cartwheel, cartwheel, bootyquake, bootyquake, thrust.

The second, well, that's where shit gets real. Sometime in the next month or so, probably early January, I will be flying down to Seattle for a consultation. A meeting of the medical minds, so to speak. There, tests will be performed and decisions will be made regarding the nature of my stem cell transplant. Or two. There is a strong possibility that I will be getting two stem cell transplants. Also, that I will be moving to Seattle for the duration of my treatment.

Yep. Moving to Seattle.

Seattle, it appears, has the best transplant centre in North America, possibly the world. They have the facilities to do things that we, here in Saskatoon, do not. For instance, it has been decided that when I do my pre-treatment chemo, that I will also be getting full-body radiation. Did I mention that this chemo and radiation would take place over eight consecutive days? This part, I am not looking forward to, I must admit. Seattle also has facilities to do cord blood transfers, which is also apparently now on the table. Saskatoon lacks those resources as well, and I was also under the impression that cord blood transfers weren't commonly done on adults, but what keeps being brought to my attention is that there is absolutely nothing common about me, medically speaking. Cord blood of course being the less cumbersome trade name for umbilical cord blood. Children are being born that I may live.

I may be getting one stem cell transplant from the donor (or another donor, Seattle will conduct their own search, and it will be faster, as they have more resources to deploy), or I may be getting one of my own stem cells and then one from the donor, or I may be getting one donor and one cord blood, or one of my own cells and then cord blood, or.... well, you get the idea. Both of these transplants will require the previously discussed month in a bubble-boy room. What I didn't bring up, because when doing the transplants in Saskatoon, this was a non issue, is that I will also need to be closely monitored for two months following the treatments, which means that someone (Mom has declared that it shall be her, for which I am grateful) has to move down to Seattle with me for that time frame.

There will be a break in between the treatments, anywhere from one to six months, during which time I am told that I can move home. If all of this sounds a little ill-defined, that's because it is, currently. With the exception of the fact that the treatment will be paid for by the Saskatchewan Health Region, I have no more specific information than what I have presented here.

Details to follow.