Matteson Friends, I received this note from Harold Kummelehne. Please Pray for his Family. Bob After my doctors visit this past Friday and consultation with seven different individuals, my sister Susan was confirmed to be my bone marrow donor. Susan was a compatible match but had to go through more testing on Friday, October 31th to make sure she could be my donor. After listening to and asking questions, there are many risk factors involved for me with the procedure, of which the doctors had to fully discuss with me, including mortality from the procedure and complications from the procedure. Some are much more severe than others. In weighing out the known risk verses the benefit, I told the doctors Im prepared for the procedure. With that, I will be re-entering the U of C on Tuesday, November 18th and will have a port put in my chest, which extends directly into the heart to receive the bone marrow transplant. I will start 5 straight days of chemotherapy with high dosages on Wednesday the 19th, to kill off any of the leukemia that did not show up on the last bone marrow test and to break my immune system down to nothing. The chemo will run up to several hours a day, not for 24 hours a day as my last treatments were. The purpose of the extensive chemotherapy is to break down my immune system to a new born baby, so my body hopefully will accept the bone marrow transplant and not fight it off. If my immune system is not broke down and destroyed, my body will reject the transplant. My new immune system will be built off of the bone marrow transplant which will take some time. I will be on multiple medications and antibiotics to protect all of my internal organs, which is part of the side effects and complications of the transplant. I will also have to get all of the inoculations a new born baby gets, over a period of I believe two years. I will be off of chemotherapy for two days before receiving the transplant. The bone marrow will be taken from Susan on Tuesday, November 25th and I will receive it on Wednesday, November 26th, the day before Thanksgiving. I will be in somewhat isolation for 3-4 weeks after the transplant in the hospital and then for somewhere around 2 months at my house. I will be very limited on visitors, including my immediate family at home, due to my immune system rebuilding and the chance of germs and infection. For the first month I am at home, I will have to go back to the hospital three times a week for evaluations, blood work, doctors visits, etc. For the second month I am at home, this could go down to two times a week, depending on how I am progressing and any side effects and/or complications. I ask that you keep me in your prayers, as I have a long road ahead of me. Feel free to share this as I am not able to see and talk to everyone, as much as I would like to. Harold
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 17:03:51 +0000
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