Conversation with Dr. Kurtzberg

I spoke with Doctors Kurtzberg and Szabolcs this morning from Duke. Where to start…if Avery is not a 6 of 6 match, she thinks that there will not/should not (I’m not sure which) even be a conversation about BMT or CBT, so she suggested waiting until we know how much of a match Avery is before worrying. Although, she said that even if Avery were a perfect match, she would still do a CBT. She still holds that cord blood is better than bone marrow, regardless of newer transplant procedures. She believes that because it is younger, it can do more. She said that looking at children with Hurler’s (MPS I), she thinks that the kids transplanted with cord blood have higher IQ’s, better bones and joints, and do better overall than kids transplanted with bone marrow. There’s a lot of other stuff she said, but I want to wait to find out more before I post. She will also be seeing Dr. Schultz this weekend at a Conference, so she said she’d talk with him about Trey. Another conversation I had today was with MSP. MSP has agreed to pay for the medical expenses from our trip to North Carolina! They will not cover the travel or accommodation, but at least some of it will be paid for.