And the gun goes off.....

Allo, Allo to all my friends and family; or at least to those who are reading this blog.  Its early morning and as usual I'm up too blinking early.  But this is a great opportunity to start this blog.

As you will probably already understand, this is my blog to document my journey through the bone marrow transplant.  I sometimes incorrectly assume that everyone knows whats going on in my life.  The grapevine doesn't always work and I don't want to get in trouble for not keeping everyone up to date.  Also I hate talking on the phone....really hate talking on the phone...

I have a bone marrow condition called Aplastic Anemia.  Its rare and its deadly for many people.  While medicine continues to improve always, the only known cure is a bone marrow transplant.  I'll post a link for people who want to know more.  This is the one time I would not recommend Wikipedia for your answers http://www.aamds.org/

In some ways, I guess I'm lucky that I found out early.  Diagnosed at a level that doesn't have a classification.  I've now been living with this condition for 15 to 17 years.  I have considered bone marrow transplant twice before but essentially I wasn't sick enough yet.

Now I'm sick enough, apparently anyway.  I mostly feel like I don't have time to be sick and no time to do the transplant.

We have been actively looking for a donor since October.  Difficult because I have rare alleles.....yeh I don't really understand what that means either.  But what I do know is that the team in Calgary led by Alijia, my transplant nurse has been searching vigorously for any kind of match.  We had two false starts.  Finding donors that eventually melted away.  Like chasing a mirage.....  But now I have a "9/10 permissible mismatch".  A perfect match.  Yeh, I was confused too! I know 9/10 isn't a perfect match but apparently the one mismatch doesn't matter to the transplant.  I thought they all mattered....hmmmm.

Currently its supposed to go ahead for the middle of April but we are in negotiations with the donor.  The transplant will be in Calgary. I will be in the hospital for approximately four weeks and in lodging nearby for the other two months.

So for now, I'll sign off and post up later.

Lots of love, hugs and kisses,
E