23/11/2024
Good day everyone
Its been 5 months since Diego's stem cell transplant. Phew, this year just flew by. From Diego's relapse in March this year he has been through so much starting with the biopsy in February. Then chemo and planning for his transplant once he was in remission. That was the easy part.
I didn't quite understand when the doctor said that Diego won't be able to finish matric this year. The initial time frame given to us was 3 months of chemo then 3 months recovery after the stem cell transplant and according to my calculations Diego would be ready to return to school in time for mock exams in September. Now its 6-12 months :(
I want to apologise for the lack of updates. Diego's recovery has been tiring and soul crushing at times. He lost so much weight after he was discharged from hospital in July and didn't look like himself at all. He has some GVHD (graft vs host disease) on his skin which is the most common side effect.
Good news is that Diego has gained some weight and is just about his old self again. He only has to attend hospital every 3 weeks now and last week he had his last appointment with the dietician as his body mass is definitely moving in the right direction.
More good news is that he had a PET scan a few weeks ago and the results reflect no evidence of disease (no cancer). His sister's cells has completely taken over his which is awesome! Now its just a matter of regaining his strength and weight. They are also keeping an eye on his liver and kidneys which is also still recovering. Soon he will get all his childhood vaccinations and be as good as new.
I cannot thank all our family, friends and JCI Church community for all their support and prayers. As well as the greater community who flooded heaven with thousands of prayers for Diego's recovery. Let me not forget to mention the Stem Cell Transplant and T-cell Lymphoma groups on Facebook as well as our PTCL messenger group who have all been a huge encouragement. DKMS Africa for the tests and The Reach For A Dream Foundation for making Diego so happy on his dream day.
