As of this Friday, November 14, it has been one year since Kristina got her transplant stem cells. And at this one-year point, sometimes referred to as her "new first birthday," it's a good time to take stock.
The news is much more good than bad, to be sure, and I know she believes that all of us have helped her a lot, even if all we did was send healing vibes. There are still challenges, but the good news for now is, there is also still Kristina!
She is now officially referred to as "in remission." This means that there is no sign of any disease or leukemia-related symptoms in her body, at all. Obviously, that's good. It's not the same thing as "cured," though. It means there is no disease being detected, and no leukemia symptoms going on right now. In other words, the disease could come back, and there are other things going on, not directly related to the leukemia.
On a related note, the transplant worked so well that she was born with B+ blood type and is now 100% A+, because that's what her donor is. Also, all the DNA in her blood is now his! This means that if she leaves blood behind at a crime scene or something, and analysts gather it for evidence, they will think her donor was there. Freaky, huh?
The thing is, there's this problem of GVH, or Graft Versus Host Disease. Basically, it results from the blood of one person being in the body of another, and the "graft" blood's defense system ironically attacking the "host" systems, thinking they are invaders. Kristina now has chronic GVH, and it crept back this summer. It got quite bad, and is now being treated with a bunch of meds -- and those meds are hassling her.
Her overall health is basically good these days, but she has to take steroids which make her face all puffy, hair grow on her face, make it hard to sleep, and leave her exhausted. She is also on anti-rejection drugs, as well as immune-suppressing drugs. The latter is because she needs the immune system of the donor's blood to calm down and stop attacking her body ... but that, in turn, means that she is vulnerable to bugs out in the world, as well as other people's sickness, and even their vaccines. Let's say you get a yellow fever shot; well, that's a live sample of yellow fever, and in theory, Kristina could get yellow fever from you.
This means she can't go back to work, is restricted on travel, has to watch what she eats, can't soak in hot springs, and so on. So this is a bummer. On the other hand, she is still alive and taking drugs! It's easy for me (and maybe us) to think of this thing as all over, but think about this: You can't travel, you're exhausted all the time, you can't just go wherever you want, and you live alone. That would get frustrating, right? Well, it does. So give her a call sometime, and if you live in Seattle, go see her. I guarantee she'd love to see you and/or hear from you.
Let's all hope thing are even better on her "second birthday."
