The Next Step

Ryan went to the doctor (transplant doc) on Tuesday.  The plan now is to begin a new chemo drug on Tuesday.  Hopefully he will not need a port this time, but that is yet to be determined.  He will go in for chemo every 3 weeks for 12 weeks.  After that time he will have a donor stem cell transplant.

So the donor...Ron will be tested first, since he is his brother.  The test kit should be in the mail to us now and Ron simply has to do a swab his cheek and return it.  I guess there is only a 50/50 chance that he is a match, so we'll see.

If he is a match then Ron will need to have a neupgen (spelled wrong, I'm sure) shot once a day for 5 days and then they will take the cells on the 5th day.  This can all be done at the James Cancer Center in Columbus.

So for right now, we wait on the test kit and then wait on the results.  Hopefully it won't take too long to know if Ron is a match.  If Ron happens not to be, they will go to the donor registry to find a match and need to find one by this fall when he finishes the 12 weeks of chemo.

Thank you so much for all of you that have been praying, asking and keeping our family in your prayers!  We appreciate it so much!