A quick update on my brother who had the stem cell transfusion just before Christmas. I was going to leave it until I knew whether the procedure was successful or not, but that may not be known for another 6 months or so. There is still a chance that his body could reject my stem cells, and he is still on medication to prevent this albeit a much smaller dosage than it was immediately after the procedure.
It's a case of so far so good really. There have been times when he was not in a good place, but they were all problems related to the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments he has had to go through as part of the process. There have been few issues due to the procedure itself and so far, touch wood, no signs that his body will reject the cells. He was allowed home yesterday, less than 6 weeks after the op, and this was at the very positive end of expectations so that has to be good. But with that comes the additional problems covid brings. He's still classed as highly vulnerable and is unable to have the vaccine as apparently it's classed as live. Having been looked after in total isolation for the last 6 weeks or more he now has to be extremely careful not to expose himself in any way to the virus as the chances are it will be lethal.
Please God this combination of lockdown, vaccination and coming into the Spring/Summer period bring down the infection rates dramatically.
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