... but the war's not over.

I am officially in remission :-D Yesterday, I met with probably the best
Stem Cell Transplant consultant in Britain* (every medical person I've
met sings his praises). After the usual verbal sparring (designed so
that he could measure my mental and emotional state) we got down to
business.

His opening statement was "You're in remission, so ...". I managed to
keep myself from bouncing off the ceiling - I knew that what he was
going to say next was important. My choices boiled down to:
	1. Carry on with the regime I'm currently on.
	2. Go for an Autologous Stem Cell Transplant
	3. Go for an Allogeneic SCT from a relation
	4. Go for an Unrelated Allogeneic SCT

The prognoses for each choice were:
	1. You will relapse and probably (80%) be dead within 2 years.
	2. As above but this time 5 years. No risk of GvHD**
	3. GvHD raises it's ugly head. 15% mortality***. But 10 years#
	4. Again as above but up to 20% mortality. However, who knows##

I've rejected 1 and 2 out of hand, but any input about 3 and 4?


* Dr Robert Marcus of King's College Hospital, London
** Graft versus Host Disease - a real killer
*** That is within 1 year from GvHD or associated infections
# Now we're heading for a cure.
## Not enough data, but it looks promising


John (now in possession of Sgt Harper's 7-barrel volley gun)
-- 
It's not about bravery.
It's about doing what I need to do to win

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