Hi.. yes I had an 8/10 transplant on the 6th of march this year so today I am day + 89. I haven't had a bone marrow biopsy yet (scheduled for 2 weeks time) but so far my blood counts show good things. My platelets & white cells have been in normal range since about day +30 however my red cells are still trying to convert blood types so I am getting tranfusions about every 2 weeks. I have had a little gvhd but quickly under control with steroids (which they are still tapering off).
I had MDS and did 8 rounds of vidaza and probably for first 4-5 rounds my blood counts improved but it didn't last & I transformed to AML. So went through 2 rounds of induction chem prior to transplant. My doctors spoke of it being a risk thing.. when at first they could only find an 8/10 match, they said the risk of undergoing transplant was higher than staying on vidaza (however if they had found a 10/10 they would of gone straight to transplant) they were hoping vidaza would give them more time for a perfect match to come along. Once I transformed to AML the risk balance changed & transplant was really my only choice. In hindsight, I probably should of gone to transplant straight up because by the time I had my transplant, 2 rounds of chemo , infections and many many transfusions later had left me in a less than ideal state to face that challenge!
It is a hard decision because you just can't tell how long vidaza will work for and when it stops working it can happen fast. And of course the healthier you are leading into transplant certainly helps! The statistics I was told were 40% are cured (some with gvhd issues), 40% relapse & 20% don't make it through transplant.. they later told me 20-30% don't make it but that could be because I was less than healthy going in. I did say to the doctors at least I was younger but they said that really wasn't a factor. The whole thing was definitely tough but I am thankful I have made it this far. I have stayed out of hospital since day +22 just going twice a week for appointments (touch wood
).
Not sure if any of that helps but good luck.. it certainly a tough decision. I just heard last night that one fellow Australian forum member didn't make it and my heart goes out to his family. Sharnie.