[Marlene]

Hi Amandana,

John, my husband did the HiCY at Hopkins back in 2002. He is in a stable, partial remission at this point. HGB in the 11.8 - 12.5 range, platelets are around 120 and whites are normal. It took two years from treatment to get transfusion free. The drugs used while he was waiting for his white count to kick in really messed him up. It took him about 84 days for his white count to kick in. Needless to say, he had some serious issues during that time. He also was one of the few to develop hemorrhagic cystitis from the cytoxan. His bladder bled for 6 months. The first year out from treatment was difficult. So aside from the still lower than normal (but very livable) counts, he continues to deal with peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage) and endocrine issues (no testosterone).

The nerve damage was very bad in the beginning and really impacted his quality of life. But through alternative therapies and targeted nutrients, we've been able to improve that a lot.

He had other issues too, but over time, the body does heal. The nerve damage was most likely do to the antibiotics and not the cytoxan. The endocrine issues are most likely a combination of things but he had really high iron stores. He's still dealing with that.

We have taken many natural approaches to healing. The biggest roadblock durning that time was the iron overload. The chelation meds really messed with his digestion and kidneys. And the iron does a number on your organs over time.

Nutrition is important. He also does some alternative therapies as well. We do what we can to reduce toxic exposures. John also uses a topical, bio-identical testosterone cream.

Not everyone ends up with post treatment issues. Unfortunately, they cannot predict how a person will react to the drugs. We now know that John's body does not like drugs and he does everything he can to avoid them. It always amazes me when you meet people who can tolerate them with little or no side effects.

It looks as though your counts are, for all practical purposes, normal. For John, 145K platelets would be considered a low normal. Odd thing about the Type I diabetes though. How do they explain that? But great new on your pregnancy.