Chronicle of a Stem Cell Transplant (and on through to the other side)

Monday, March 24, 2008

Back From Seattle

I guess the point of writing an update about our trip to Seattle should be to say how it went with the doctors, rather than highlighting the fact that I went to Sephora to get my Bare Escentuals starter kit. Or, that we found ourselves at the Irish pub, Fado (it was St. Paddy's Day, after all), until 2 in the morning listening to a bad band do great covers like, "Don't Stop Believin."

The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to the right and the city to the left.



Downtown...



The two doctors I met with on Monday were decent. Although, the first one, on fellowship, repeatedly rubbed his nose while we tried not to grimace (until we had to shake his hand at the end of the discussion). The second doctor was informative, though not able to tell us that much more than we already know (we are so smart).

The focus of the talk was on two primary treatment options. The first, SGN 35, is a fairly early clinical trial taking place in four U.S. centres; unfortunately, Seattle is not yet one of them, though I may be able to have it delivered there. The second option is a nomeleoblative transplant, or "mini-allogenic," different from my initial autologous transplant in that I would be using donor cells, likely one of my parent's, rather than my own. This is not necessarily a fun option and also comes with a price tag of nearly half a million dollars. I guess it really is true that I have champagne taste on an (American) beer budget.