Met with Doctor

Today we went to the med. center to meet our transplant doctor. His name is Dr. Devetten and he is a really nice guy. They took allot of blood for testing and had us watch 2 video's on Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant. We were very blessed because my parents and Pastor and Mrs. Lydick went with us.
Dr. D met with us after the video and helped answer many of our questions. I will start by giving you the road map for the next few months.
1. Most Important is remission. (As I type this we are in the hospital receiving chemo)
2. Finding a donor. Dr. D stated that there is better than an 80% chance Doug will find a match in the donor registry. To answer the question many of you asked about getting tested to see if you was a match was also answered. The answer is, there is about a 1 in 1,000,000,000 chance. Dr. D told us to tell our friends and family if you wanted to help just go to the American Red Cross and asked to be put on the donor list. Placing your name on this list also makes you a donor for others, you can't just be placed on the list for Doug.
3. Once a donor is found and Doug's Leukemia is in remission he will be admitted into UNMC and given high doses of chemo and radiation.
4. Once Doug's blood counts zero out they will introduce the new stem cell/marrow. This is done through simply running it through Doug's port. The new cells will find their way into the marrow and start producing non-leukemic cells. (That is as planned)
5. There is a complication called Graft verse Host Disease (GVHD) (This is a bad 4 letter word). GVHD happens when the donated cells treat Doug's body as a foreign thingy. (The job of the cells in the body is to attack anything foreign, so because Doug's whole body will be foreign to the new cells GVHD is a serious risk)
6. The admission time in the hospital is approx. 3 weeks, the recovery time from the transplant is lifelong. The first 3 months is crucial.
7. Doug will be unable to work for at least the first 3 months.
8. GVHD can happen at anytime in life after the transplant.

Currently Doug is receiving Chemo and tomorrow he has a spinal tap and other medications given. He should be in the hospital till Tuesday or so.

I know this is allot to digest, and honestly there is more, but these are the basics. We will update the Blog each day as info comes to us.

We know that God is in control and He has given us doctors to help along the way. Please add Dr. Thome and Dr. Devetten to your payer list.

God Bless each of you and Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Kelly