Week 12 – Wed/Thursday – End of tests

On Wednesday I had a major appointment with John Seymour to review my latest Bone Marrow Biopsy and discuss progress so far.

John indicated the Biopsy was clear of leukemic cells – showing I am still in remission – which is great news.

The discussion moved onto the bone marrow transplant and the post transplant treatment.  This will be handled by another consultant Amit Kot, but John was happy to shed some light on issues and timeframes.

The preparation (read chemo) starts December 11^th and the Transplant will go ahead December 20^th.  Tony, my brother has to be in Melbourne on 29^th of this month for more tests to ensure everything is OK for the transplant.

John told me that without the transplant there is a 90% chance the leukemia will return within 12 months.  Less than 5% of patients with my disease (AML with 3 mutations) will survive greater than 2 years without the transplant – really I have no option!

He also said the occurrence of AML is around 2 per 100,000 or around 100 cases in Victoria per year.  I asked him how much it cost to treat someone like me – “$1.5m as a rough estimate”.  Luckily we are still in private health insurance, although it would be covered in the public system otherwise.

My post transplant treatment will be critical for a 6 month period and important for up to 2 years.

Disappointingly I will not be able to fly (as pilot) for at least 12 months.  CASA don’t like to have potentially sick people in the air for some strange reason!

I also had a dental checkup in preparation for the transplant, including x rays.  This was to ensure I am no carrying infections into the transplant which could be serious.

On Thursday I attended the Austin Hospital for an allergy test.  This involved lots of needles on a grid on my arm to test which antibiotic I am possibly allergic to.  This is because in the early days of my treatment I developed a significant rash on my upper torso – but the doctors could not determine what it was at the time.

Lachy joined us for dinner to celebrate the christening of our new BBQ.

Beanie Auction

Most bids are now in the $300+ range but there are still a few higher than that!  You have until Sunday night to snap up this masterpiece so bid up!

All proceeds go to the Ward 7B at RMH.

Please remember if you registered to enter the auction last week you are committed to donating your $10 to RMH, even if you don’t bid.  If you want to join the bidding this week you are up for $15 registration.  Only the winning bidder pays the full amount. Every donation counts!

Donation details are on this link – :

https://www.thermh.org.au/support-us/general-donations?utm_source=header_button

Choose Cancer Services as the Gift Preference .

Then email your name, address, donation amount and a note that your contribution is for Ward 7B to Sandie Baskin- the lady in the red jacket with the gold jewellery, RMH fundraising and bequest coordinator!! (sandie.baskin@mh.org.au ).

Sandie will track the contributions ensuring they go to Ward 7B  and send out a receipt  for tax purposes.