Day 112

We went for our consult yesterday with Dr. Rowley, chief of the MM group at Hackensack. In the process of waiting for him they took an ocean of blood, 12 vials. He went over all of my files with us and outlined the process for us. We'll have to make a decision about further treatment - Allogeneic transplant or not after we get the results from the Autologous transplant. He favors a double (tandem) Auto transplant. In the meantime all of my brothers and sisters are doing an HLA swab test kit to see who is the best match for me or if I have multiple matches within the family.

I had surgery this morning to put a port in my chest below my collarbone. It's pretty sore right now but not terrible so I'll grin and bear it with a little help from my friend - Per Ca Set. Over the next two weeks I'll be losing my hair so I went and got all my hair cut off. I thought that that would be a little less sloppy than losing tufts of hair around Barbara's condo. Tomorrow I get a major all day infusion of Chemo and come home to Barbara's to rest. I'll get Neupogen injections sometime late next week.

Day 110

     This was a day chock full of information, a 3 1/2 hour caregiver/patient class with lots of handouts and good interaction between patients, caregivers, and presenters followed by 5 hours of tests in different hospital departments. I never imagined there were so many different ways to test your lungs and heart. I left my pedometer in the X-Ray room, hope I can get it back. I'm sentimentally attached to it.
     There's nothing on the schedule for tomorrow, so we'll go out and do some shopping. They want me to use an electric razor, no blades for fear of bleeding and we'll go to Whole Foods to buy provisions that I'm allowed to eat. I had to eliminate some things I really like. I'll put them on my bucket list for Christmas.
     On Wednesday, I'll meet with a Psyco/Social Worker and have a consult with the transplant team. I need to do a Living Will. On Thursday I get my catheter port put in, we have to arrive at 6AM for a 7AM procedure with Dr. Klein. I'm debating whether or not to take a picture, it looks like a pretty ugly apparatus. On Friday, I begin my mobilization chemo/neupogen (a stem cell growth stimulater) for approximately 2 weeks, then high dose melphalan followed by the transplant and a period of recovery.

Day 98

I got firm dates for the next step in my myeloma journey. Joan, Melissa and I will head to NJ for a class for Joanie & Melissa, testing for me on November 8, 2010. The chemotherapy for the transplant will take place on November 12, 2010. I don't know the exact date for the transplant but should occur a short time after the chemotherapy(mephalan). I went for torture with the dental technician this morning ; she discovered a cavity under one of my crowns(#14), so I'll get a new temporary crown on Thursday. Yippy ay yo kaiyee!! The king will be newly crowned again. Thank heavens the dentist is very good at what he does. He's the only guy Joanie will go to for treatment.

Day 97

I had a delightful lunch with Allen Trustmen and Fran Soares down in cloudy Rock Hill, SC. I'm about midway through my 4th month of chemotherapy. It's kicking my butt from a fatigue standpoint but otherwise I'm doing pretty well. I've received my likely dates for my ASCT (autologous stem cell transplant). It looks like I'll migrate to NJ for a November 8 class and work-up for the transplant which may take place on November 19, 2010 - my new birthday!! The class is for Joan and Melissa. I get to have two caretakers, lucky me.

Day 87

I met with the local oncologist, Dr. Mariealane Hellner, on Thursday. We went over the numbers, she's very pleased with my progress. We also agreed, since the numbers are still coming down that I would do a 4th month of chemo at home. That will finish up on November 5th and we will aim to move up to Hackensack University Medical Center the week of November 8th. They will do initial testing - heart, lungs, and whatever else followed by high dose mephalan to kill the remaining cancer cells, then high dose drugs to stimulate the growth of new baby stem cells, cell harvest, transplant, isolation, and then hopefully a little rest. Joanie asked the doctor if she could hold off coming up till after the cell harvest, she wants to make sure that she has enough hours to get FMLA, and then join me for the transplant and isolation phase of the treatment. I'll drive up and be able to go to Barbara's until then. The oncologist said maybe, she said that the drugs used to do the stem cell growth stimulation can be quite painful and I might not be able to drive but that everyones reaction is different. We'll see what we shall see and make the call then. I don't want to seem like a woosey but I'm looking forward and not looking forward to this.After I get through this ok I'll start preparing for the second transplant, which will be the donor transplant.

Day 85

Just got my blood test results and everything is normal except my mutated protein reading, it's .8g/dl. Thats an overall drop from 3.6g/dl to 0.8g/dl since I started chemotherapy. I'll meet with my local oncologist this afternoon but I think that I'll have a firm date for my autologus stem cell transplant by tomorrow. I feel like I did as a little kid when I had to get up to bat in my Malcom's Pharmacy Little League uniform for the first time - got some butterflys in my stomach. I'll post the date when I have it.

Day 77

I'm finished with my third month of chemotherapy. Everything went pretty well this month, just had to deal with some leg cramps and some constipation after the combo days with dex and revlimid. Joanie and I managed to get in some travel to Scottsdale, AZ where we saw an old friend from our days in the UK and spent some time with Chris Hughes and  then Pierre out in San Diego. We met Pierre's new girfriend, Zaida, and liked her immediately. She's very affable and down to earth. I'll get blood tests in NJ this weekend so we'll see if I've made progress on this journey. I hope so, I want to get into the next and more difficult phase of treatment.