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Old Tue Jun 11, 2013, 10:45 PM
ecb220 ecb220 is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 5
Upcoming BMT for my mom

I've been a longtime lurker on these forums but I'm making the jump to member and poster today!

My mom - 64 years old - has been ill since November 2011, without a clear diagnosis. She's been given ATG, rATG, Solaris, IVIG, and any number of other treatments. She recently got a "2nd" (more like 4th) opinion and was advised to move forward with a bone marrow transplant.

She will be doing the BMT at Stanford at the end of July. It hasn't been scheduled quite yet - many tests still to go - but she has 2 (!) sibling matches, so we're assuming one of them will be the donor.

I've read many threads here, and have seen so much useful information and advice. My mom and whole family are glad there is finally a firm diagnosis and a path to move forward... something to focus on. At the same time, I know I am terrified. There is still so much that is unknown - i.e. we found out they will do the BMT as an outpatient procedure and send her "home" (to a rented apartment) on Day 0 - and scary to think about.

At this point, I'm mostly curious what advice you'd all give to a caregiver that has about a month to prepare. My parents are divorced but still close, and my sister lives nearby as well, so we have a good support system in place and will soon be negotiating days off work so we can provide my mom with the care she'll need, etc.

Thanks for reading, and thank you all for posting. I'm sure there are many others like me who've read these forums for a long time and draw strength from them, even if we are mostly silent.
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