Some good news!

Some good news to report today:

My donor is still around, still alive and still committed. She (a 23-year-old) is going in next wednesday for her pre-donation workup. Though this means I will definitely not be having my transplant the first week in june, at least it means we know she's out there and responsive and still ready to give. Most likely that means the transplant will be given sometime the second full week of June.

Tomorrow is also a very important day. I will be getting a bone marrow biopsy. With any luck it will show no disease. Let us please knock on wood! If I have no more disease, and my blood counts start coming up next week, there's a chance I may be able to go home for a few days. This possibiliy is very attractive to me, to spend a few days to recharge my batteries with my wife, my cat and the rest of my family. I would be very grateful indeed.

Went downstairs today and had a consultation with the radiation doctor. A big part of the "condiditoning" for the transplant is total body radiation. It doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. Of course, I don't think anyone could imagine having all of their bone marrow being killed as fun. But basically that's the function of the radiation. With any luck it will kill any remaining leukemic cells, too. We want as few of those buggers as possible when I go in for the transplant.