On Tuesday morning I have an appointment at the UNC BMT Center with the new doctor there. I’m not sure of the spelling, but it looks like his name is Terry Comeau. He’s not listed on the web site yet. http://cancer.med.unc.edu/patient/programs/bone-marrow.html
This appointment is for information gathering and to get a tour of the facility. Like I’ve said before, I’m not ready for this big step yet. That doesn’t mean I don’t think about it every single day though. Unless some more breakthroughs are forthcoming, there will probably be a stem cell transplant in my future. I wouldn’t be surprised if the eventual cure for MM is a SCT in combination with some other kind of therapy.
The first step would be to use my own stem cells if I do it. The mortality rate is much higher on the allo SCT and there is that GVHD (graft-versus-host-disease) problem with them as well. They are usually used in a more aggressive disease.
Are you still thinking you’ll do it yourself (donate stem cells for your transplant if you eventually go through this)?