Monday, October 1, 2007

What I know so far about transplant

So on Friday I got 3 phone calls from the transplant team in Dallas. First they wanted to check my insurance to see what they will cover. Lucky for me I am covered, but I found out that the search for a donor and cost of having my sister typed is not. Because my sister is my best chance for a match and the fact that it cost $360 to have anyone typed for a match, I do not want to ask anyone to go thru that if the odds are not that great. So if my sister does not match, then off to the National Registry. I appreciate everyone wanting to be a possible donor. I just thought insurance would cover that expense, but I should know better. Health insurance pays the bare minimum they have to.

If you can't help me and you want to know what else you can do, think about being tested for the National Bone Marrow Registry. There are thousands of people waiting for a donor. You can call Cliff Ackerman at 214-820-1589 to get more information.

I finished my last round of Idarubicin (the orange stuff) last night. I only got that for 3 nights. I will finish my last round of Cytarabine (24 hour infusion) on Friday night. I thought this would be easier since I know what to expect, but it has been different. I have had more nausea this time. I have not had blood or platelet transfusions yet (but they are coming soon). Hair is still going to fall out. Doctor says that will happen between 10-14 days. I'm not worried about losing my hair, but once my hair falls out then I look the part of the cancer patient. You can no longer look at me and not know why I am here. I found a website that sells t-shirts that say Bald is the new black. I think I will buy one and wear it proudly.


For those who want to know more about my diagnosis go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma website
http://www.lls.org/ and look up Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What does the donor testing consist of? Is it just labs that are drawn up? Let me know.

Anonymous said...

So glad you decided to do this blog! We love ya!

Anonymous said...

That sucks about your insurance. I have had sooo many problems with my insurance since my transplant. We are thinking of you and we will still do what we can to help. Keep us updated on your sister's status.

Anonymous said...

Um, I'm the anonymous comment above...don't know how I did that...duh.