By Dr. Ram Prakash Thirugnanasambandam
“Is it true that my entire immune system will be gone?” the patient asked.
“Yes, it is true,” the attending said. “But we will be there throughout the process with you and make sure we fight off every possible infection we find.”
I was on an adult bone marrow (stem cell) transplant elective at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and yet again, I was witnessing the sort of conversation most of the MSK patients had with the team every single day.