Tag: bone marrow
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Bone Marrow Transplant Consult #2
Yesterday, we drove out to UPenn in Philadelphia to meet with Dr. Loren. We hadn’t seen her since March and we were hungry for information and for some kind of timeline for the transplant. Well, we did get a lot of information. Some of it good, and some of it rather daunting. GOOD NEWS: Dr.…
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Reception into the Orthodox Church
This past weekend was one of joy for us. George was received into the Orthodox Church, something I had been praying for and hoping for years! I think the leukemia diagnosis nudged him in that direction – having a spiritual foundation and home base is a comfort when facing such a challenge as cancer and…
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A New Week Begins
Today is Monday and last Friday, George finished up his injections of Vidaza. He is still taking the Venclexta pills for another week, though. We are both glad we won’t have to drive to Camden every day anymore….but are we fooling ourselves? Today, George has a follow up appointment with Dr. Ghimire and then as…
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This Is Spinal Tap
Two days after getting his bone marrow biopsy, George was back at UPenn for a lumbar puncture. The traffic was hell going into the University City area, but I’m starting to think that is just the norm. There is SO much there – The University of Pennsylvania, the hospitals, the research centers, CHOP (Children’s Hospital…
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Bone Marrow Biopsy #3
Yesterday, March 28 we drove out to UPenn in Philadelphia for George’s scheduled bone marrow biopsy. He has had two previous biopsies at Cooper hospital, but said this experience was different. At Cooper, he was hospitalized when he had them so of course it was different in that respect. This time his biopsy was done…
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BMT Consult #2- The Hospital at University of Pennsylvania
George’s second bone marrow transplant consultation appointment was with Dr. Loren at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. We didn’t really learn any new information. There are some differences in the way UPenn and Jefferson approach the transplant process. One notable difference is that Jefferson will use half matches, while UPenn strives for full…
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BMT Consult #1 – Jefferson University Hospital
On March 11, we drove out to meet with Dr. Wagner at Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia for a bone marrow transplant (BMT) consultation. The first thing that happened was George had his blood drawn, of course. This was done to get George’s blood type and to check for anti-HLA antibodies. If the antibody count…
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A New Dilemma
In my last post, I wrote about our dilemma of having to make the decision to meet with a bone marrow transplant team at a new hospital we had never heard of, or waiting almost two months to meet with the team at UPenn, our first choice of hospitals. We ended up choosing the new…
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The Dilemma
During the first hospitalization, George had the bone marrow biopsy to get the initial diagnosis of AML and then we had to wait a couple more weeks for the “molecular” data to come back. That would show which actual mutations on his chromosomes were linked to the onset of his leukemia. The news we got…
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Biopsy = Diagnosis
On Monday, January 3 George finally underwent his bone marrow biopsy. They took him down to intervention radiology for the procedure. George was so happy about that because normally, the procedure is done bedside with just a local anesthesia. He got to have his done while sedated, which means he didn’t feel a thing! The…
Diagnosis: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). A Journey 