Jogging with Kristen

By now, most of you realize that my wife, Kristen, is a hematologist/oncologist with a lot of expertise with leukemia. We jog together early many mornings, and in order to slow her down, I ask lots of questions which I know will require a long, drawn-out explanation, which forces her to run slower so she can breathe and talk at the same time.

So, this morning I asked her about AGT, which is the immune suppressant Bonnie will be taking for a few days in preparation for her second cord-blood transplant next Monday. It turns out that AGT is basically a horse or rabbit serum designed to trigger a response by Bonnie's remaining t-cells when the serum is injected into Bonnie's system.

Here's how it works: human t-cells are injected into a horse or rabbit which provokes a response by the animal's immune system. Magically, a serum is harvested from the horse or rabbit, and this serum is processed and injected into a patient -- in this case Bonnie. This serum provokes a response by Bonnie's sole remaining t-cells -- the serum is trained to "fight" t-cells. The net effect is that the t-cells are focused on fighting the horse serum, which means the donor stem cells can enter Bonnie's system without as much resistance from Bonnie's t-cells, thus improving the odds of these stem cells finding Bonnie's bone marrow and propagating a new immune system. Bonnie's t-cells have been effectively distracted by the horse serum.

In some cases, the horse or rabbit serum provokes a large allergic reaction, but Bonnie has undergone this treatment before -- in early July -- and she tolerates it well. The AGT treatment continues for a few days, then Monday she should be ready for the second cord-blood transplant.

If you haven't checked it out yet, read "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cord Blood Transplants But Were Afraid to Ask" by clicking here, or be sure to check out details on this Friday's fundraiser for Bonnie by clicking here.

What do normal couples talk about when they jog in the early morning?