Immunosuppressant Therapy has begun!!

Bradley started his immunosuppressant therapy!!

2 more days til transplant!!

The scariest part about the transplant is the immunosuppressants he will have to take.  For the first three months, they basically take his immune system down to nothing.  After that, they will slowly back down on the strength of the medicines they give him, but he will have to be on some dose of immunotherapy for the rest of his life.

After an organ transplant, the body will nearly always reject the new organ due to differences in the blood between the donor and recipient. As a result, the immune system detects the new tissue as "hostile", and attempts to remove it by attacking it with recipient white blood cells, resulting in the death of the tissue. Immunosuppressants are applied as a countermeasure; the side-effect is that the body becomes more vulnerable to infections and malignancy, much like in an advanced HIV infection.

For the first three months, we will have to be very careful about where Bradley goes and who he comes into contact with, so we can try to protect him against any type of infection.

The doctors have already told us to expect at least one hospital admission due to an infection sometime within the first six months.

So even though there is a light at the end of the tunnel, the journey is still not quite over...