Off to Seattle

A lot of things have happened in the last few weeks. The Fred Hutchinson clinic called to let Jill know that they would like her to come up to Seattle to start her next phase of treatment. Jill had her last dose of Rituxan on Friday (October 19). Next Tuesday, Jill and Sylvia will fly out to Seattle and move into an apartment they have rented near the clinic. Scott will drive Turbo the dog out the next weekend. On November11, Tom will fly out to Seattle to help. Harley just happens to have a meeting that week in Seattle so we will be there to help out as well.

This time Sylvia will be the bone marrow donor for Jill. Parents are"haplo-identical donors." The goal of this procedure is to introduce bone marrow that is compatible, but dissimilar enough to Jill's own marrow to create additional resistance to the Hodgkin's disease. The protocol the doctors are using is relatively new and has proven quite effective. Bone marrow will be collected from Sylvia and immediately given to Jill. The procedure is safe but will leave both Jill and Sylvia uncomfortable and in need of some help for a few days. That is where Scott and Tom come in.

So things are moving along. We feel much better about treatments that are preventative rather than to fight active cancer. I will provide more updates as the treatment progresses.