Day 102 - after stem cell transplant The magic milestone means that it's time to see how well the transplant worked. Tomorrow, April 18, 2023 Leila gets the follow up bone marrow biopsy where myeloma cells will be counted down to 10 to the 6th power. Results will be available next week which will state either positive or negative Measurable Residual Disease (MRD) . If there are fewer than 1 in a million cells -and that's what we want - it's NEGATIVE. Here's a statement that helped us understand how there could possibly be any remaining myeloma after all that chemo. Myeloma cells are not easily destroyed, and some will survive, even after the high-dose chemotherapy just prior to stem cell transplant. The chemo only targets myeloma cells that are actively dividing and not the ones that are "sleeping," or out-of-cycle. Therefore, after the transplant, it is most common to receive maintenance chemotherapy to fight those myeloma cells still lingering in t...
Some folks are wanting to know more. Others are not so interested in the details. We thought we'd put it out there and let you choose whether or not you want to read it. This whole journey has been quite fascinating from a scientific perspective, but sometimes it's hard to remain objective. After all, this is a loved one we're talking about. And there are always risks and unexpected twists and turns. We're hopeful that Leila will avoid all those obstacles and sail through this with relative ease. If you want to know more about multiple myeloma here's a very good overview.. https://www.mymyelomateam.com/resources/multiple-myeloma-an-overview