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[personal profile] edenfalling
My Uncle Bob (my dad's sister's husband) has myelodysplastic syndrome, which is sort of what you get before you develop acute myelogenous leukemia -- your bone marrow has gone funky and stopped correctly manufacturing blood cells, and the rest of your body isn't able to compensate anymore.

He's going to get treatment at the University of Minnesota hospital, which is, apparently, one of the top three hospitals in the country for this disorder. (The other two are the Mayo Clinic -- duh! -- and someplace in Seattle.) But before they start treatment, he needs a roughly two-month 'preparatory' drug treatment to bring his 'blast' count down. So he's doing that at home in Virginia. Then he'll get another bone marrow biopsy, and assuming everything's at an acceptable level, he and my aunt will head to the Twin Cities to get his transplant.

The good news is that the hospital has found several donor candidates who match my uncle on all 8 of 8 HLA characteristics, and they can use the next couple months to gather the necessary cells while my uncle undergoes the preparatory drug course.

So, things are going about as well as could be expected. *lights a candle*

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Elizabeth Culmer

March 2026

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