[DanL]

Ray, I am now at day +52 and continue to improve week over week. I am very fortunate in that I only live about 15 minutes from P/SL, but part of their program is that they want you to be within 30 minutes for the first 100 days. P/SL has great social and financial counselors that can help you find housing and funding if needed. Also, if finances are a concern, go to the LLS co-pay program website and apply for any assistance you might need. It is pretty simple and very generous.

My donor came from Germany, so I am not really sure what his experience was, but I am eternally grateful for his willingness to help a complete stranger. From what I have read, it is not too terrible on the donor, but could leave them with flu-like symptoms for up to 2 weeks, and requires a few days of their time where they have to be given a full workup on their blood and overall health, similar to what you go through to make sure that the match is a good fit on several different levels other than just HLA markings. Some donors that I have spoken to in the past have been very glad they did so.

In general, they are looking for healthier, stronger, better matched donors, so smoking may or may not play a role depending on the availability of better matches and their underlying health conditions.

As far as transferring facilities, it is a delicate move as doctors are people and can get their feelings hurt when a patient moves from one doctor to another, but this should not impact a decision that affects your life. It may cause a slight delay, but if you are in contact throughout the process, and honest about your intentions, then it should be facilitated between the facilities.

I was in the hospital for a total of 29 days, which included 8 days of conditioning and 21 days of recovery/engraftment. I had severe marrow fibrosis at the time of transplant, so engraftment of neutrophils may have been slightly delayed, as they seemed to come in at about the same time as platelets and red blood cells in my case.

As I may have mentioned, I spent quite a bit of time getting to know each of my nurses and doctors and tried to form a little bit of a personal relationship with each of them so that i knew who was taking care of me, and I was extremely impressed with their dedication to their jobs and how much they really care about the condition of their patients. Nobody I met was there to do a job, everybody was there to save a life, it was their passion, not their job, and you could feel it. their advice came out of compassion and experience, not out of procedure and protocol. The staff is a big thumbs up, and that starts with the folks in the kitchen, and goes through to the infectious disease doctors that visit you, even though you are not directly their patient, and of course the CBCI staff is wonderful. Most of your time is spent with your nurses, and they are what make or break your experience, and they made mine a good experience in a tough situation. One perk is that they have physical therapy, a dietitian, and a massage therapist come in once a day, and a volunteer brings in a treat like ice cream each day.

My transplant was a 10/10 matched unrelated donor, male to male, same blood type, and several other nice matches like CMV and HSV status.

Now that I am out of transplant, i have minor GVHD, go into the clinic twice a week (it was initially 3 times), and we adjust stuff just about every time to help me out. I meet with the nutritionist and psych briefly every week or two or as needed to help out with diet, nutrition, and stress if needed.

Sorry for the lengthy answer, I hope that answered all of your questions.
Good luck on the trial.
Dan