Tiny update from Gib and Kristen -- sailing through

Kristen spoke to Bonnie yesterday and she was doing well -- just getting her on the phone is a good sign. Sounds like she has had some small fevers and a new skin rash, which Kristen suspects is graft v. host disease, which at this point Kristen considers a good thing.

Recall that graft v. host disease is an indicator of a "new" immune system fighting some of Bonnie, which is to say that the new immune system hasn't been trained to see Bonnie as "self," as of yet. The reason that this is good is that you want a little graft v. host disease to fight off any last vestiges of the leukemia cells that may be left in Bonnie's system. It's likely that Bonnie will take steroids at some point soon -- the steroids are used to dampen the immune response a bit, so that Bonnie won't get the skin rashes, etc. Scroll down the page to my old post "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cord-Blood Transplant But Were Afraid to Ask" if you haven't read it yet and want a little more background.

I'm sure it doesn't feel like this to Bonnie, but Kristen feels Bonnie has sailed through the treatment and is making good progress. Sounds like it is ok again to call Bonnie on her room phone at 612 273 0202. Don't freak out if she doesn't answer, however, as there are times that the meds leave her a little wiped, or she's simply in the bathroom.