First visit to MCV

Today Gennie and I spent three hours at MCV meeting to discuss if she was a candidate for a bone marrow transplant (BMT). The doctor not only thinks she is qualified but believes she is a great candidate. For those of you who know her this will not shock you at all. If you didn't know there was anything wrong with her you would never guess it. She is the picture of fitness. She is active and full of energy. It is and always has been difficult to keep up with her. The only thing wrong is her bone marrow does not produce healthy blood cells. Both white and red. Hopefully over the next year and a half we are going to correct that.
The next step is an appointment on Aug. 4th to do another marrow biopsy. This will give her doctors a starting point, baseline if you will. Then it is on to treatment with drugs to get her counts where they need to be to help insure a successful transplant. This stage could take two months or twelve. They really can not tell. Once they determine she is ready the fun begins. Probably a month in the hospital in Richmond then three to four months outpatient care. This is going to mean I will be moving to Richmond for at least six months sometime during the next year. You can not be more than thirty miles away from the hospital during this time. They will not consider anyone for this treatment without a caregiver. Once we are cleared to move home it is many more months of being very careful. She will not be able to do many things for herself ie.. clean house, cook with raw meats or fresh fruit. Lots of stuff that i am just going to have to do. Believe it or not I am looking forward to that date. It will mean that we have made it and hopefully Gennie is not far from being cured.
I will let everyone know more after our Aug. 4th visit.