December already! Christmas decorations are up and I have started my xmas shopping. If my blood behaves I will be having my DLI donor lymphocyte infusion ( donor top up) just after xmas if my blood doesn't behave it will be done before.
DLI treatment should only take a day, once at hospital they will do blood tests and a general check up to make sure I'm well enough for treatment. You then have pre meds these are to reduce the chance of a bad reaction to the cells. They then order your donor cells from where they are frozen you have a little bit first time see how you react then you might need some more at a later date. The actual infusion only takes 20 minutes or so. Once you have had the infusion you wait for a few hours being monitored to make sure you are not having any ill side affects.
DLI most often brings on graft versus host disease this can affect almost anything, your lungs,skin,stomach,liver and so on. Although if I do get some GVHD it seems like a step backward in my recovery it can be a good sign as it means the new cells are fighting any old ones that are left. It usually takes a least a week or two before symptoms appear if you have them that is.
The hope is that a DLI top up will raise my chimerism so theres more donor cells and also stop the dysplasia ( abnormal cells) in my bone marrow.
