Michael had his transplant Monday, and is doing "as well as can be
expected."  He's still feeling the effects (nausea, etc.) of the chemo he
received last week and is anxious about possible side effects and whether
the transplant will, in fact, work.  He'll be in isolation until his white
blood cells are such that he'll be able to fight off germs, then perhaps in
the hospital in non-isolation for a while, then into an apartment near the
hospital for 3 months or so in order to be able to get back there ASAP
should problems develop.
Set out below is a copy of an article from a web site about bone marrow
transplants that I should have sent out a while ago.
I'll keep you posted on Michael's progress.
Bob

Bone marrow transplant
Description:
Bone marrow is a soft fatty tissue found
inside bones. It produces blood cells (red blood cells, platelets
</conditions/ency/article/003647.htm> , and white blood cells). When the
patient develops disease of the blood cells (anemias
</conditions/ency/article/000560.htm> , leukemias, or lymphomas) or when
cancer  </conditions/ency/article/001289.htm> treatment (chemotherapy
</conditions/ency/article/002324.htm> and radiation therapy
</conditions/ency/article/001918.htm> ) damages or destroys the bone marrow,
a transplant with healthy bone marrow can save the patient's life. Patients
need bone marrow transplants because they have dangerously low white blood
cells (which are needed to fight infection) as a result of cancer treatments
or have cancer of the blood cells.

Bone marrow transplant patients are usually
treated in specialized centers and the patient stays in a special nursing
unit (bone marrow transplant unit: BMT) to limit exposure to infections.

Donated bone marrow must match the patient's
tissue type. It can be taken from the patient, a living relative (usually a
brother or a sister: allogeneic), or from an unrelated donor (found through
the national marrow donor program which lists more than 700,000 potential
donors). Donors are matched through special blood tests called HLA tissue
typing (see HLA antigens  </conditions/ency/article/003550.htm> ).

Bone marrow is taken from the donor in the
operating room while the patient is deep asleep and pain-free (under general
anesthesia). Some of patient's bone marrow is removed from the top of the
hip bone (iliac crest). The bone marrow is filtered, treated, and
transplanted immediately or frozen and stored for later use. Bone marrow
transplant is transfused into the patient through a vein (IV line) and is
naturally transported back into the bone cavities where it grows quickly to
replace the old bone marrow.

What to Expect After:
Bone marrow transplant prolongs the life of
a patient who would otherwise die.  Relatively normal activities can be
resumed as soon as the patient feels well enough and after consulting with
the doctor.

The other significant problems with a bone
marrow transplant are those of all major organ transplants--finding a donor
and the cost of the surgery. The donor is usually a sibling with compatible
tissue. The more siblings the patient has the more chances to find the right
donor.

Convalescence:
The hospitalization period is from 4 to 6
weeks, during which time the patient is isolated and under strict monitoring
because of the increased risk of infection. The patient will require
attentive follow-up care for 2 to 3 months after discharge from the
hospital. It may take 6 months to a year for the immune system to fully
recover from this procedure.

Risks:
The major problem with bone marrow
transplants (allogeneic type) is graft-versus-host disease
</conditions/ency/article/001309.htm> ; the opposite of the graft rejection
</conditions/ency/article/000815.htm> problems seen in other transplants (
transplant rejection  </conditions/ency/article/000815.htm> ). The
transplanted healthy bone marrow cells tend to attack the patient's (host)
cells as though they were foreign organisms. In this case, drugs to suppress
the immune system ( immunosuppression  </conditions/ency/article/000818.htm>
medications) must be taken indefinitely, weakening the body's ability to
fight infections.



Bob Joyce
Kvaerner Process
7909 Parkwood Circle Drive
Houston, TX 77036
(713) 995-2137
(713) 270-3652 -- Fax
bob.joyce@kvaerner.com <mailto:bob.joyce@kvaerner.com>

This electronic message transmission and any attachments contain information
from the Kvaerner Process Legal Department that may be confidential and/or
privileged.  It is intended solely for the addressee(s) above, and use by
any other party is not authorized.  If you are not an intended recipient,
any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this
information is prohibited.  If you have received this transmission in error,
please notify the sender immediately by using the "reply" feature or  by
telephone, and then delete this message and any attachments.  Thank you.