I talked with the coordinator at the U of MN Fairview BMT program today and scheduled my BMT, actually a Peripheral Blood Stem Cell transfusion. I will start on Monday, April 23, for 5 days of outpatient tests to confirm that I am healthy enough to proceed and establish a baseline for comparison during recovery. One of the first procedures with insertion of a central line that will be used for months for IVs, antibiotics, chemotherapy and the actual BMT. They will then test me from top to bottom.
My brother will also have a physical that week, though a lot less thorough, only taking about 1/2 day. Hopefully, this can be completed in Missouri where he lives since he will not need to be at the BMT clinic until a week later.
On Monday, April 30, I will check into the BMT Unit 4B at Fairview - University hospital. On Tuesday, May 1, they will start chemotherapy to kill off my bone marrow. From May 3 to May 6, my brother will receive growth factors to mobilize stem cells from his marrow to his blood. This procedure is done on an outpatient basis, once a day. On May 7 and 8, stem cells will be filtered from his blood and shortly afterward transfused into my blood stream.
Then the miracle happens, a rebirth, close to my actual 59th birthday on May 9th. Somehow, the stem cells find their way into my bone marrow and start producing new healthy blood cells. If all goes well, I should be out of the hospital early in June and back to work by the end of the summer.
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