Week 11 – Monday-Wed -Time for tests

Monday and Tuesday have also been fairly easy going with the usual HITH visits for blood tests and observations.  The HITH team generally come in the middle of the day but I have been checking early each day to give me some time for activities.

I have received lots of interest in the auction for the Beanie which will start next week.  Keep in mind all proceeds go to Ward 7B at RMH.  Please let me know if you intend to bid for the beanie – auction starts next week!

On Tuesday morning we met Ian Herbert (a friend from Tassie) who had flown in for the morning to check out the possibility of buying a second hand plot harvester from the Pickles auction.  I helped Ian assess the unit before he decided that it was too badly damaged to be useful for his trial work in Tassie.

Ian Herbert arrives in Melbourne to check out some machinery

Ian and I measure up the plot harvester

Tuesday was a hot day in Melbourne and we hired another small boat for a trip up the Yarra with Lachy and his friends.  This was a great evening and I even managed enjoy one light beer!

Lachy’s friends enjoyed a trip down the Yarra

Wednesday was a big day as we spent all day (9.30am- 6.30 pm!!)at the hospital with tests and meetings with consultants and co-ordinators.  This day was focusing on preparation for the bone marrow transplant (BTM).

I now have a lot of information about the BTM but as a summary:

The transplant from my brother Tony is set for December 20^th

I will spend the week prior in hospital undergoing an aggressive chemotherapy program aimed a killing off all blood cells and bone marrow

I will spend the next 3 weeks in hospital recovering with week 2 being very tough – with symptoms similar to my original round of Chemo – sore mouth, diarrhoea etc.

I will be on another cocktail of drugs including the USA drug Midostaurin (again).

The following two months after being discharged from hospital will be critical from an immune perspective as my immune system will still be rebuilding.  I will have tests three times each week.

In summary the BTM is not an easy operation and it carries significant risks but it is advised for the type of Leukaemia that I have (AMML with FLT-3 and 2 other mutations) otherwise the chance of recurrence without the transplant would be quite high.

I have another two days of tests and consults so will report back with more information when I can.