Chemo: Cycle 12... & Bone Marrow Transplant Consult

Last Tuesday I had chemo session #12 (of 16)... the neuropathy in my fingers and toes is definitely difficult to deal with.  It's like the outer shell (the skin) is numb, but the nerves underneath are super sensitive, especially my toes, my toes are definitely more severe.  Even my cat rubbing his face on my toes sends out an explosion of tiny little electrical pulses.  My fingers... I have trouble picking things up, trying to go through paperwork, turning pages, I drop things a lot.


Back at the end of May I had the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) consultation, I was given a lot of information and they took a lot of blood.  I found out that I will be hospitalized for a month and then have to live over there near the hospital for three months, we live about an hour from the hospital but that is too far away, I could die before we got there if I got sick or had a complication. I will need 24 hour care. The insurance doesn't cover the expenses for this. We will have to come up with the money for housing and my mom is going to have to live over there with me and be my caregiver/nurse.  They sent tests out to my brother and sister to see if they might be a match.  *The kits are swabs for your checks.* 

I found out last Friday... neither one was a match. :(  *bummer*

They are going to check the national registry to see if they can find a match, she said she would call early this week.  You can wait for weeks, months, sometimes years before a match is found.

If you are interested in becoming a donor, please go to www.bethematch.org and register, they will send you a kit in the mail, you swab your cheeks and send the swabs back.  You must be between the ages of 18 and 60 to donate.  If for some reason you don't qualify to donate, please consider making a financial donation.  It helps cover the costs for others to donate.

For information, questions, facts & myths... go here:

http://marrow.org/Join/Join_the_Registry.aspx

If you are interested in donating to my Lymphoma Fund for uncovered costs associated with my bone marrow transplant, there is a link on the top right column of this blog.  It is through PayPal, but you do not need a PayPal account to donate, just put in the amount and go down to where it says "Don't have a PayPal account?" and click on "Continue".  Any amount would be most appreciated.

My biggest concern is how to pay for housing for the 3 months I will need to spend over there.  They have a place, similar to the Ronald McDonald House, they try to make it as affordable as possible, we might be able to get into that if they have space available. We may have to get a motel room or see if we can find a furnished apartment.  We won't know until we find a match and then see what's available.