Nancy's Update

Sorry for not posting for so long. I'm 11 months post-transplant and feeling real good. My first birthday is coming up on May 25th. This is a milestone as far as bone marrow transplants go. Two weeks ago, I got to attend my first bone marrow transplant reunion at the City of Hope and was given this huge badge to wear showing 11 months! This is a big event that I've looked forward to attending for over three years. I heard they expected close to 8,000 people. The crowd was filled with nothing but miracles. I'm so glad to be on the other side of the transplant and not still "searching!" Thank God for my donor in a faraway land, without her, who knows where I'd be right now or if I'd be. Here is a photo of the doctor credited with saving my life, Dr. Nakamura and his Physician's Assistant, Anna Teotico. They were awesome as was the entire nursing staff and blood donor bank people who collected hundreds of units of blood and platelets on my behalf. Did anyone notice that I have hair now??? Gosh, I think I need a haircut!

To the left is a photo of two of my friends who also received bone marrow transplants. Michelle, on the left of me, received her transplant from her sister in the fall of 2005. Donna, on the right, received her transplant from an unrelated donor one month after me. Below, Christina Pechera received her second transplant one month after me. We had hospital rooms next door to each other. I'm happy to report that all four of us are doing pretty well.

Some of my counts are in the "normal" range now. As of May 8th my RBC's were in the low normal level at 3.83 (norm 3.8-0-5.2) and my HGB was 12.5 (norm 11.5-15.5). My WBC's were low at 2.9 (norm 4.0-11.0) and my Platelets were low at 70 (norm 150-350). I haven't had a transfusion since Scott's unit in late October!!! yipee... Because of my over 200 transfusions last year, my ferritin (iron) is extremely high at 1970 (norm 6.2 - 137.0). They are talking about using expensive prescriptions, but my doctor prefers to "bleed me out." This means that I'll be "donating blood" to get my iron level down. (Of course, since I've had this awful disease, the blood will be disposed of.) This may be done once a month for a year in order to get the results needed. So far, we're just talking about it. Nothing's for sure.

On my last posting, I mentioned friends of mine, Ann and Chris Gregory. Their insurance company turned Ann's cord blood transplant down but after months of appeals, lawyers, letters to government officials, they finally got the word that insurance will approve her life-saving cord blood transplant. She will receive precious umbilical cord stem cells on May 30th. Congratulations Ann! It'll be tough but you can do it! Just take it one day at a time and stay positive!! : )

You must know that life is more precious than ever before! It's Mother's Day this weekend and one year ago on Mother's Day I was admitted to the hospital to start my preconditioning in preparation for my May 25th transplant. What a year it has been. I want to wish everybody a Happy Mother's Day. Thank you for your continued support! Love, Nancy