Oct 5th, I went in for my 9 month scans. The scans turned out ok, but the blood didn't. The next day I had a bone marrow biopsy to confirm that I have Secondary AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia). This means I got leukemia cancer from my original bone cancer treatement. This is pretty rare, but not rare enough for me.
I got that weekend off, which was good because it was Coleman's birthday party. Then, by the next thursday I was in surgery getting a hickman line inserted in my chest. By friday I was getting chemo again. Totally different kinds than the last ones that gave me cancer, but with more side effects. With this chemo I must stay in the hospital until my white blood cell count comes back up. This could take up to a month or more. What I really need is a bone marrow transplant. The chemo rotted my bone marrow and the best way to fix that is to give me new bone marrow.
My brother got his blood tested, and it takes 3 weeks to find out if he's a match. He would make the best 'natural' match, but the chances are only 25%. If he isn't a match, then other family will get tested, but we will probably have to go to a International Bank of Bone Marrow Donors. It could take months to get a transplant, and several more chemos before it's available.
In the meantime, I'm done with the first chemo, and I'm bored in the hospital. I really do not like staying here day after day. It's really boring. I can't even leave the floor.
Today, my friends Nick & Daniel came to see me. Thanks for the donuts guys. Really enjoy those!
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Hi Grant, glad to hear you've made it throug your first round of chemo and back on the upswing for energy. Also good to see you're blogging. Hopefully it can help you to talk about some of the "fun" you're having and maybe express some of the frustrations. We'd all like to be there, but I'm sure your visitors are supposed to be more limited. Keep smiling, fighting and blogging so we can all keep up. Let us know when we can bring the pizza, cheeseburgers and candy!!!!!!!!!
See you soon.
Paul & Sandi
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