The end is near

It’s about 6:00 now; I’m going to head back to the hospital to spend the night with Beth (I went in to work four hours today; she slept most of the day, and I got a few things done).

Beth is going to get her first dose (of three) of Thymoglobulin, which, I understand, suppresses the immune system. She’ll also get the last doses of Fludabarbine and Busulfan. They’ve given her some “pre-medications”, which had her sleeping all day. We’ll see how she handles all this tonight.

For the next two days, then (the 13^th and 14^th), she’ll get the Thymoglobulin and the total body radiation, and the donor’s stem cells should arrive here the evening of the 14^th. By that time, our hope and expectation is that the leukemia-producing bone marrow will be completely destroyed. 

Of course, then we have about a year dealing with issues such as engraftment, infections, and graft-vs-host symptoms, but the end of the leukemia is near.