What goes up... Must come down... Yes?

I guess the above is true with almost anything. Within a 24 hour span of time, we experienced an "up" of wonderful proportions, then just as what seemed a dream becoming reality, the "up" came tumbling down into a pool of confusion, concerns and ponderings.

The good news is we learned from the latest round of blood tests, that Tony's cancer has been significantly decreased. This is a good thing! Acceptance of this most excellent news hadn't even sunk in when we got an email from our beloved Oncologist, asking us to consider going ahead with an autologous transplant (definition further below).

Over the past long months of watching Tony's blood results show little to no change, we'd assumed a transpant (greatest hope for long term remission) was eliminated as a viable option. Miracle upon Maui Miracle, the cancer has subsided. As a result of the various questions flooding our minds, we're hoping to meet with Dr. Craig to discuss a transplant further. SOON!

The biggest considerations on our minds are the "down time" (at least a month or two) and the chemo or radiation phases. But, when one forces one's self to consider all of this in "the bigger picture"... What's a couple of months out of the loop, when you potentially gain many, many more years of life.

Autologous Transplant: AutoSCT

Autologous (from self) Stem Cell Transplant (AutoSCT)

In an Autologous stem cell transplant, stem cells from the patient's own marrow are removed, stored and then returned to the body (engrafted) after the patient receives high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy conditioning therapy. Sometimes, the portion of marrow is also purged of cancer cells before being returned to the patient.

Typically autologous transplants are done in four phases:

Induction phase - conventional doses of chemo are used to reduce disease. (We think Tony has done this phase, and more chemo won't be needed)

Mobilization/harvesting phase - use of growth factors or other treatments that leads to the proliferation and mobilization of stem cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream. These cells are then harvested using a process called apheresis in order to replace the stem cells that will be ablated (killed) during the conditioning phase of treatment.

What is apheresis? - medlib.med.utah.edu "The process of apheresis involves removal of whole blood from a patient or donor. Within an instrument that is essentially designed as a centrifuge, the components of whole blood are separated. One of the separated portions is then withdrawn and the remaining components are retransfused into the patient or donor."

Conditioning phase - high-dose therapy that wipes out or "conditions" the immune system and bone marrow in preparation for the stem cells harvested previously. This phase might include Total Body Irradiation (TBI), and more recently, high dose bexxar - an investigational alternative to TBI.

Engraftment phase - the stem cells are given back to the patient to reconstitute the immune system. Sometimes purging techniques are used to clean the stem cells of residual tumor cells prior to engraftment, or shortly after."Approximately two to four weeks after your transplant you can expect to see signs of your bone marrow “engrafting” or beginning to grow. The first sign of this is the production of white blood cells. Platelets often take a little longer to begin developing. Once you have “engrafted” and your condition is stable, you will be discharged from the hospital."

The NEW FreecycleMorgantownWV

The Ultimate in Eco-Friendly Recycling

You may remember me mentioning the new Freecycle Morgantown Group (and some of you have also been sent an invitation to check it out). Well, after many long hours invested in the creation of the site, the group has launched and I'm the moderator. (that's the other "up") I guess I couldn't help but offer myself up to help get such a wonderful tool launched here in Morgantown, especially after watching several other Freecycle groups in our area (Fairmont, Pittsburgh). It's interesting to watch folks offering and requesting so many things for free, thus helping keep our land fill void of perfectly good (and usable) items.

I don't know about you, but there are ooodles of occasions when I drive by items folks have put out for trash collection, knowing full well that someone else could use these things. Thrifty Pack Rat that I tend to be, it's all I can do to pass these things up!

THE DOWN SIDE of my short lived "UP":

It seems there's a group in Morgantown calling themselves Freecycle Morgantown. Hrumph. They're not affiliated with Freecycle(TM), but for all intents and purposes, they function just the same. What to do!

Having just invested LEGIONS UPON LEGIONS of hours creating the new FreecycleMorgantownWV Network Site, I cannot simply walk away. So, I guess we'll see if this new venture takes off.... or die in a puddle of conflict and confusion.

As always, we continue to count on your prayers.

pitterpat