From September onwards I was on 5/2 Chemotherapy (five days on two off and two back on) Azacitdine and 14 days Venetoclax running together with then two weeks rest then another round of chemo to be repeated for the next few months. I was also recovering from a brain bleed and blood clots in in my leg and lung all due to the initial disease. My strength started returning and by November my Consultant first mooted about a possible Stem cell transplant if I kept recovering as this would be the only real chance at a full recovery. I recovered enough by Christmas for this to become a reality and a search was then put in place for a Donor for Stem Cell Transplant whilst I carried on with my Chemo treatment. Bone marrow biopsies were carried out regularly during this time to see if there was any residual disease left and if so how much. In late January I had the good news that a suitable donor had been found as I did not have any suitable siblings to choose from this was to be a female German who was a very good match for my markers. I ran through all the Heart, Lung, Kidney tests to make sure I was in a healthy state for the procedure in the coming few weeks and they all came back favourable, I was provisionally given April as a transplant date but this slipped back to the middle of May partly as I had a blood clot in my arm caused by my PICC Line, the line was removed and treatment given for the clot. Finally on 14th May I had a Hickman line fitted into my chest ready for the transplant procedures and was admitted that night ready to start the transplant process the next day. I will not go through all the details of the treatment as that will come later in my second transplant story, on 23rd May I received my SCT and then began my next stage of the journey.
To be continued.
