John's transplant will be in January

Hi, I am back posting.  I have had trouble even posting because of the whole banner ad thing.  I couldn't post for two days and so I did what was suggested by AOL.  I cleared my cache and rebuilt my adapter.  This has caused major problems with my computer.  I won't go into all of them now, but I am very upset.  

I don't want to deal with the whole ad situation right now, or my previous inability to post.  I have too much going on in my life to deal with it.  I am going to post what I need to right now and deal with the ads and my opinions on my problems posting at a later date.  Please bear with me.

So what is it that I am dealing with now?  Or should I say, what is John dealing with?

On Thursday, Nov 17, John and I went to (Hershey) John's Transplant Center to see John's oncologist.  Dr. Claxton, his oncologist, said that if he didn't get a bone marrow transplant there is a 100% chance of John getting AML (MDS leukemia) during his lifetime, with a 50% chance of getting it within a year.  That is why Dr. Claxton has decided that John's transplant will be in January.  He will have one more appointment on December 22 at which point we will find out the exact date in January that the transplant will take place.

One thing that was unexpected was that John found out he will be having a Non-ablative transplant instead of an ablative transplant.  One thing that means is he will be having less chemo with fewer side effects.  The Non-ablative transplant also has a much greater chance of survival, instead of the twenty to forty percent death rate of the ablative transplant. 

It also means that John will have a shorter stay in the hospital , but we will still have to stay in Hershey for four to five weeks so John can have daily outpatient care.  During the outpatient time, he will go to the hospital during the day, but at night he will be able to come back to the Hope House at night and spend the nightwith me!  The Hope House is a place like a Ronald McDonald House.  It is directly across from the hospital.  

John is relieved that he is having this transplant as opposed to the other one. However, he is not kidding himself; it is going to be rough.  He will still have to have high dose chemotherapy.  It will last for 16 hours a day for three days.  

We are not sure what else is involved.  I have looked on the internet trying to research Non-ablative transplants and have not come up with much information.  They are a relatively new procedure.

Well, thanks for letting me share.

Love, Krissy