We had our first day at MDA yesterday and will have another long day today, the 4th. We saw the transplant nurse first and he went over Roy's 8 page questionnaire/history; then we saw the SCT doctor and he explained things very well, took wonderful notes, asked questions and told us what he felt could be done. He felt Roy was a good candidate for SCT as he was in good health but first they would have to decide if he was still in remission as their threshhold for remission was not 6% as KU told him but 5% so we are seeing a leukemia doctor today. MDA already had a bone marrow biopsy scheduled for this morning and the SCT doctor said we should have preliminary result in 48 hours. Depending on if Roy is in remission or not depends on the first course of action. When they beging the SCT we will be in Houston a minimum of 4 months so I would imagine it will be closer to 5 months for us but that is okay as we have a good place to stay. The RV park is not geared to "Winter Texans" as such, i.e. no activities but since the park is about 75% MDA patients they don't need the activities as most do not feel like getting out and doing things and cannot be around other much of the time.

MDA is a huge complex and our appointments were on time. We were given a schedule of when and where to go, i.e. elevator B, 8th floor and then the name of the area, or elevator C, 3rd floor and the name of the area.

Roy has a list of people that are his SCT team and we have cards with phone numbers and emails on how to ready them so as long as he is here these are the ones we will be working with. If Roy is out of remission, we will had a leukemia team to these folks.

The financial gal talked to us and gave us a figure for the cost. For a sibling match, the cost is $263,000; if they had to go the national donor route to locate someone it is $500,000. I am sure thankful for insurance. She said she had to submit everything for approval and I asked what are the percentages of not being approved and she said it will be approved that this was just a formality and paperwork.