Day +29, BMT :: 100% DONOR!

Jade spent two full days at home before being readmitted to the hospital with fevers, rash, facial swelling that nearly shut her left eye, and the equivalent of a really bad sunburn, but her smile and laugh are as strong now as they have ever been! 

 

Why? Well, blood cultures show no infection, scans show no sign of damage to her major organs, and the chimerism (those specialized blood tests that Jade took just 20 days after her transplant) shows that HER BLOOD IS 100% DONOR CELLS! Her new cells have made themselves at home!!! Surely this news excuses the excessive exclamation points.

 

The hyperpigmentation that has transformed Jade's skin from head to toe to, as she describes it, "Daddy's skin," and the subsequent burning and peeling  is an effect of the chemotherapy she received one month ago and will resolve with time. 

 

But the symptoms that caused her to be readmitted to the hospital for the whole week are now being attributed to graft versus host disease (GVHD). That's when the new donor cells attack the host's (Jade's) organs or tissue because they see them as foreign. GVHD can be life-threatening when the donor cells attack vital organs, but Jade has a mild case. And a mild case is actually considered good; it's an indication that the new cells are fighters and would likely fight leukemia cells if they were to encounter any.

 

For now, Jade's GVHD will be treated with a low dose of steroids; we pray that contains it and resolves it!

Jade will head home again this weekend and return for an out-patient bone marrow biopsy on Monday to determine whether her leukemia is still in remission and confirm that her marrow is also 100% donor cells. 

 

Thank you for continuing to lift Jade up in prayer!  

 

http://www.facebook.com/superfriendsforjade

 

#smilingforme #bravestrongready #day29