Transplant Info Day

We met with the Dr today and got all the info for the transplant finalized. Avarie will be checking into the hospital on June 15th to start her transplant conditioning. Conditioning is all the drugs and things needed to prepare her body for the new bone marrow. She will receive drugs that kill her current bone marrow and then once it is completely gone on about day 10-11 she will receive the transplant.
They are not going to do radiation on Avarie, they don't feel she can handle it. They consulted with the transplant Dr in Seattle too, she has been performing transplants since 1972 and is considered one of the top transplant Dr's in the world. Her recommendation was to not give this child radiation too. They explained to us that transplant is a delicate balance between trying to kill off the old bone marrow and cure her cancer and trying to keep her alive through the actual transplant. By not doing radiation it increases her chance of relapse a little, but the risks from the radiation to her would be worse. We are also not going to be using as strong of drugs on her as they would normally, but again they worry weather her body would tolerate it and survive it. So they will be using gentler drugs, if there are gentle chemo's. They are strong enough to destroy her bone marrow and gentle enough to not kill her. She will then on June 26th receive her transplant of new marrow. The donor will actually just give blood. He is taking a growth horomone to increase his amount of needed cells, I can't remember which blood cells they are looking for and taking from him, my brain is on information overload right now. Anyway after he takes the drug for awhile they will take blood from him and weed out the ones they want and then they will ship it to us and we will hook it up to Avarie's IV and it will drip into her blood and find its way to where it belongs. It is only about an hour long drip of basicly blood, pretty uneventful from what I understand and then her transplant is complete. We just then wait for the new marrow to start regrowing, it will take about 2 weeks for the marrow to start regrowing.
There are a whole bunch of other details and possible and probable side effects that we will have to worry about and treat, but again my brain is on overload and its just too much info to try to remember and write down right now. As that info processes in my brain or becomes relevant I will share it.
We are both excited and nervous about this. I have to admit I am nervous by how concerned the Dr's are about Avarie. I am grateful that they are taking her case so seriously, but its a bit unnerving at the same time. Transplant patients all become "fragile" at some point during transplant, but she said Avarie will be admitted with the "fragile" title starting at day 1. I know that Avarie will be getting the best care possible, I feel very good about it and very confident in Dr. Nemecheck's abilities, but I am also nervous to know that my child is more fragile then most in the same situation.
When we check into the hospital our hospital room will have a computer with internet access, so we will be able to update regularly, daily even. So I promise to keep everyone as informed as possible. This next week we are just hoping to enjoy each other and have a good time together as a family. We are planning a going to transplant party for all of our friends and family to join us. We don't have it planned yet, but we are thinking about this next Saturday, June 13th at a park. We want to invite everyone to come and enjoy a last weekend together and celebrate the strength and bravery that Avarie has shown through all of this and to give her a great start to her transplant.