I'm Back!! 1/7/09 I Have to Believe

Hi Folks:
I hope the past few months have been as good for you as they have for me. My middle daughter (Jackie) got married in Wichita, KS and we had a great time. All my daughters were home for Christmas along with my two Sons-In-Laws; again, a great time. I feel great and am in remission. I have a great wife and three loving daughters and a bunch of friends praying for me. A great feeling.

Well, the New Year has started and guess what. I was admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital today (this was planned) to undergo a Stem Cell Transplant. Regardless of whether you think I have a sick sense of humor, this is not exactly my idea of fun although I am going to do the best with what I have to work with. It is a decision that we made (we being my family). You see the problem with AML, as I may have explained before, is that it "hides in the weeds". While I am in remission which means that there is no sign of leukemic cells from my bone marrow biopsy, the probability of it relapsing in 12 - 24 months is actually quite high. And if it does come back, I am in trouble. So we decided to go for the cure and not sit around for next 12 - 24 months wondering and worrying about whether it comes back or not. The cure, of course, is a Stem Cell Transplant (not guaranteed of course). This is where your part comes in. My family and I would appreciate lots of prayers!!

Let me try to give you a summary of what is going to happen. First of all, out of several hundred thousand in the Bone Marrow Registry, I had two individuals pop up that are a 10 for 10 match to my bone marrow genes. This is a good thing as it means that there is another person in this registry, who lives outside the U.S., who is willing to give me a donation of their Stem Cells and their Stem Cells are the closest match to mine for purposes of conducting this transplant. God Bless this person! I am prevented from knowing anything about this person for at least one year, but I will be able to write anonymous notes thanking them. The only thing I know is that the donor is a 27 year old male that lives outside the United States. Now if any of you want to sign up to the Bone Marrow Registry (doesn't mean I will get your cells), I would be happy to send you the Web site. What drives someone to register for this donation is beyond me, but I thank our Lord that there are people like this.

Now back to the transplant process. Beginning tomorrow, I will receive Chemo treatement for the next four days consisting of two different drugs. This will be what they call a full ablative transplant, which means that the chemo will kill off all of my cells in my bone marrow. It usually takes 2-3 weeks for the cells to die and hit the Nadir, but they will be exposed to this toxic chemo formula. I will then have 72 hours of rest. On January 13, my donor will be harvested of his Stem Cells through a transfusion process and his cells collected will be shipped to Chicago. On January 14, I will be infused with his Stem Cells, once again through my PICC line (transfused) into my veins. BTW, God designed our bodies and cells in a way that these Stem Cells will know to go directly to my bone marrow and take hold. Pretty cool, huh.

After the infusion of his Stem Cells, there will be some conflict between my own cells and his cells. It happens with ALL transplants of any sort. His cells will engraft to my marrow and my cells will fight these foreign cells. Even though he is a 10 for 10 match, his cells (we will refer to him as John Doe) and Dennis Cavender cells will fight each other. How appropriate to have a little conflict in my life. The Doctors will administer immunosuppressants (medication) to reduce this conflict but with no intent on eliminating this conflict. Because this is where the magic happens. The whole idea is to inject the John Doe's cells that are healthy and for the combination of the chemotherapy and the John Doe's cells to kill off all of my cells and take over my bone marrow and produce healthy cells (without leukemia) in the future. Voila!

The Doctors are optimistic for a positive outcome, however they do throw in their caveats about how the mortality risk is 20-25% in the first 100 days. I won't have much of an immune system so there is the risk of infection. Additionally, there is also the risk of "Graft versus Host" disease resulting from the transplanted cells fighting, thus the need for medication. But I have something that will override all of these risks. That is a promise from God in Jeremiah 29:11. Go ahead, read it. It can apply to you as well. Because our God is full of grace and mercy. Without my personal relationship with him, I really don't know what I would do going into this procedure.

Without getting too technical, I hope that helps explain the process. Please pray for me and my family and I will update you as this new chapter and journey unfolds.
God Bless all of you.
Love, Dennis