KELLIE’S STEM CELL TRANSPLANT DIARY

INTRODUCTION TO MY STORY

28^th August 2003

Kellie was diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukaemia ) on 28^th August 2003, Sub level M5 (myocytic) with chromosomes 11 to 19 translocated. Doctor’s told use this gives us a poor prognosis. She needed to have six months of extensive chemotherapy. After course one, Kellie still had some leukaemia blasts in her bone marrow and the doctors advised us that she would most probably need a Bone Marrow Transplant. She stayed in hospital until after the 2nd chemo after which we were told she was in forced remission. Each chemo forces Kellie’s blood counts to drop and her immune system to be suppressed (neutropaenic). It takes about one and a half to two weeks for this to happen and then all sorts of infection can develop so she is given all types of antibiotics to combat infection. Then it takes about ten days for her blood levels to recover. After about eight weeks in hospital she was allowed home but ended up back in hospital twenty-four hours later with an infection. Kellie ended up in intensive care for 6 days with severe fluid in the lungs and around her heart. Just before the specialists were about to do open chest surgery to drain her lungs and heart her own white blood cells started to multiply and do their job at fighting the infection. Thank goodness for that because she also had no platelets (blood clotting agents) to stop bleeding if they operated.

With the next lot of chemo she had the occasional temperature and unknown infections, including a very mysterious one where her face became swollen on the left hand side and looked little a rockmelon was growing in her jaw. Five different specialist teams were baffled. It went as mysteriously as it came with no explanation. Chemo five, six, seven and eight were giving through a subcutaneous port in the abdomen. Needles were given at home by mum. Kellie was able to go back to school for the first term of 2004 with only the occasional day missed with trips to see the specialists. Early January we were told the BMT would definitely take place sometime around the end of April. Peeta, Mum and Dad are not a good enough Bone Marrow match to be the donor. The world register was checked and an umbilical cord stem cell donor was found, in Switzerland. We can’t thank you enough, Heidi or Heinz!

In the lead up to the transplant, which has been put off until early May, Kellie has had a bone marrow harvest. The harvest gives us a back up in case the stem cell graft doesn’t take. She has also had many base-line tests for lung function, electrocardiograph (ECG) to record the rate, rhythm and electrical activity of the heart, an ultrasound of the heart, echocardiograph (Echo), to give information about the pumping efficiency of the heart, chest x-rays and blood tests to check her liver function and kidneys.

	Haemoglobin	Platelets	Total White Cells	Neutrophils
Normal Range	120 – 160	150 – 400	4.5 – 13.5	1.8 – 8.0
Aug 03	96	284	12.9

The aftermath of a bone marrow harvest!!