Relevant about May 10th, 2022 – We are on pins and needles as we wait for the results of Scott’s siblings testings. So in my spare time I read and write. So much of the medical stuff is not my thing but I’m learning. We learned that your typing comes from your parents; and that siblings have a 25% chance of matching. Your children will have no greater chance than a stranger to match as half their markers come from their father and half from their mother.

With Myelofibrosis, the bones are filling up with scar tissue and the blood is the cancer pulsing through his veins and bones. I don’t know about you but I never really thought about blood being in your bones. I’m likening the stem cell transplant to an oil change for your auto. You’ve gotten bad oil in your car and the system needs to be flushed. You can flush it out and put in new oil but you won’t really know if you’ve damaged the engine until you try and fire it up after you’ve done all the work. Scott will undergo extensive chemotherapy in the hospital to kill as much of the cancerous blood as possible before they give him the stem cell transplant or “oil change”. With any luck, the stem cells will not be rejected and they will multiply and create all new healthy blood for him. On the donor side, they will receive a drug for a number of days prior to the transplant to build up their stem cells for harvest. They will go through a process much like giving blood only the blood will be “sorted” and the needed cells harvested for Scott and the remaining blood returned to the donor in their other arm.

What we can’t know ahead of time is the amount of damage that the cancer has done as far as the scarring in his bones. This scarring is what is causing the extreme pain and we can only hope that as the Jakafi works it’s magic and with all new blood, that the scarring can be minimized so that his pain is greatly reduced.

https://bethematch.org

Scott has a match today, but please consider helping someone else in need. See the link for more information on becoming a stem cell donor.