Reunion of Survivors

Last Saturday, Anne and I travelled to Durham for a reunion of Duke Adult Bone Marrow Transplant patients.

Quite a moving experience. It was held in a large conference room at the Durham Conference Center, and there were about 400 hundred attendees.

Two poignant moments -

A MUD  transplant survivor  ( stem cells from a Matched, Unrelated Donor )  got to meet his donor.
Tearful and moving.

and then there was the  " OK, Everyone who is 5 years out, raise your hand "

then 10, then 15,16,17,18,19, 20, and there were still hands going up.  It capped at 25 yrs!

And the technology 20 years ago was pretty primitive compared that of  today.


I am at day 535, or about a year and a half, and as many of the other survivors I spoke with,  I am still adjusting meds to address the GVHD conditions I am experiencing with my gut, kidneys, bruising, fatigue and steroid induced type two diabetes which is not uncommon in the early years.  I will be meeting with yet another medico here in Carteret County next week to get the glucose numbers under control.

No Jump or soundtrack today.
More to come.

Chris