Transplant

Hi Everyone. I wanted to give a little update about what's coming up for me for treatment in a couple weeks.

In June I found out that my cancer is in remission - after 5 and a half years it is finally gone! While this was a relief to get to, it also led to a summer of intense treatments, and to a decision that I had to make about the next steps of treatment. It caused a lot of anxiety and panic for me, and there has been a lot of back and forth with myself and my doctors at both Dana Farber and in NYC. I have decided to go forward with the Autologus Stem Cell Transplant at Dana Farber. I will be starting my stem cell collection on September 30th, will be going to Las Vegas for three days to do a work presentation on October 4-6, and then coming back and going inpatient into Brigham and Women’s Hospital on October 8th for at least 3 weeks. I’m nervous and trepidatious, but I’m trying to focus on the hope that this will hopefully give me a chance to be off treatment and keep this remission for at least a few years- if not forever. I have about a 50% chance that I can hold remission for 5 years with this treatment. My doctors think this is my best chance with what we know is currently available.

I’ll be using a website to coordinate help like childcare, meals, and other needs during the month of hospitalization, two following months of home quarantine, and subsequent up to a year of restrictions and recovery. My lifelong best friend, Emily, will be getting notifications from the site as well to help with answering questions and being a point person to keep things centralized. I’ll be continuing to update needs as they come up, and this week there will be a bunch of additions to the calendar as I’m getting final reports and plans together for both help in the hospital and help at home with Lochlan.

This summer has been a rough one, and this fall and winter are going to be tough, but I'm hoping that I'll be on the mend quickly and will be able to stay healthy for a long time to come. Feel free to ask me any questions. I'm happy to share. 

Below is the link to the website with more info and help calendar. You can sign up through here to bring meals, or help with care for Lochlan, me or the house. There is also a link for donating if that is something you can do. We appreciate all your support and help. Thank you. 

https://www.giveinkind.com/inkinds/D0U5A7Y/help-during-kezia-s-stem-cell-transplant