newbie going for transplant

[dpmeeks]

Hi everyone.. Im Phil, 46yrs old, and I was diagnosed with AML in August of this year and have had my Induction round and two Consolidation rounds. God has truly blessed me and I haven't had any serious side effects from any of the rounds of chemo.

They found three 10/10 matches for me ( thank you god ) and I am being admitted on Dec. 31st for my Transplant.

I have been trying to decide if I wanna go mylobelative or non-mylobelative, they are offering a clinical trial and you are randomly picked or I can just go with the high dose (mylobelative). Im getting my transplant at UK Markey Cancer Center in Lexington, KY.

I was wondering if anyone has had the non-mylobelative (low dose) type transplant and what info they can offer to give. Thank you, and god bless

[Lori Patrick]

I had the non myloblative transplant (no radiation). You can read about my adventure at the caring bridge site listed below. Blessings,

[Neil Cuadra]

My wife had the full transplant conditioning. She had an unrelated donor transplant in her 40s. Her story is here.

The National Marrow Donor Program has summaries of myeloablative or non-myeloablative conditioning regimens but doesn't give guidance on making the choice.

Non-myeloablative conditioning first got attention as a way to offer transplants to older patients (60s, 70s, or higher). Having an easier conditioning regimen produced better transplant survival rates, but patients had a higher relapse rate. Older patients or patients in generally poor health often didn't have any choice. When to use non-myeloablative conditioning for younger or otherwise healthy patients is more subject to debate and study. Much of the data we have is from years past, so it might be worth asking the study leaders if they can provide you with recent statistics on the differences in outcomes for patients who match your age and health condition.

[dpmeeks]

thank you for the responses. I decided to get involved in the trial and let God lead the way since the trial is random.

Ive read the same, that there were higher relapse with non-mylobelative (low dose) and thats something that worries me. I guess its difficult for the transplant doc to give me a clear answer due to having to find patients in my exact situation.

All i can do now is pray and ask god to watch over me and lead me to the correct path.

[Lori Patrick]

Phil, You will be doing best to let God lead you. I did the same thing and had the non-Myleoblative transplant. My donor was my brother and was a 10/10 match. I did not have any chromosome problems. I am almost 2 years old and I have graft v. host of the skin which is tolerable. My doc favors the non invasive treatment and feels the new cells should get rid of the bad one's. I will keep you in my prayers. I asked God to lead me and he did. Prayers for you... Keep us informed.

[squirrellypoo]

Hi Phil.

I had my "mini-transplant" in 2009 and it was fantastic for me. In my case, I hardly had anything left in my marrow to kill off with chemo, so it made the most sense. I had fludarabine, campath, and busulfan as my chemo cocktail, and no radiation.

melissa

[dpmeeks]

thank you for everyones prayers and kind words. IM still looking into the low intensity but will let god lead me in what to do...