10/17/2011 And the Results are in.

We found out last week that I wouldn't have to travel to Salt Lake to get the results of all the tests they took. That was good news to us, we felt that if they we going to let Dr. Te give us the results in St. George that things probably were pretty good and there were not surprises in the latest test results.

I had the appointment scheduled with Dr. Te last Friday for my monthly checkup and to get my Zometa (spelling ?) which is the intravenous version of what is advertised as Boneva on the TV. We went up Thursday night so I could give them some more blood - only 3 vials this time - and then went to Coral Canyon for the night. We went out there by way of Telegraph Street through downtown Washington and they are almost complete with the street rebuild project that has been going on. It's still a little strange not to see the old Nisson Market building across from the school, but the road is very nice and will help getting traffic through that area.

Friday morning we got up and went to my appointment at 9:00 am. We met with Dr. Te and were a little surprised when he asked if I had been to Salt Lake yet. We told him that Cindy at LDS Hospital had told me that he would be giving me the results. So he said that he and Dr. Peterson had talked and these were the results: The pathology report for the Bone Marrow Biopsy that was performed on 9/30/2011 showed a Plasma cell population of <1% of the cells associated with my Multiple Myeloma. In other words, everything worked pretty well. We asked him what that meant and he told us we achieved a "partial remission". We were hoping for total remission of course, but based on everything we'd gone through and our earlier talks with Dr. Peterson and Dr. Te, I'm not surprised that there is still a little bit hanging around. The number was around 15% +/- before my first transplant so I'm sure some of them made it to the transplant samples. I will be starting my maintenance routine sometime within the next couple of weeks. I believe I will be on a 5mg Revlimid tablet every day to begin with. I'm not sure how it works but Dr. Te said that at least for the 5mg dose, I most likely will not have to take the lovenox (blood thinner shots) or any steroid treatment for now. After some period of time the dose may be increased to 10mg or even eventually to 15mg depending on how I'm doing and what future Bone Marrow Biopsies may tell them. I'm sure I'll have to have further Biopsies at 6 month or 1 year intervals for the next few years.

Of course, we were hoping to hear that we got a full remission, but we knew I'd have to be on maintenance for a while anyway. We talked to a lady that has been in remission from MM for a couple of years. She told us of someone she knew had a small residual and went on maintenance and achieved a full remission that way. I am hopeful we can do the same as Revlimid worked pretty good for me before. I am glad it is a small dose so I can hopefull keep feeling as good as I now do. It was pretty difficult before to keep functioning at a high level when I was on the 25mg dose last year, so I hope the 5mg dose can be working in the back ground and I can still be as operational as I am today. My hair is really growing now and although it will be a while before I need a brush to keep it under control, it won't be too long before I'm going to have to have my hair trimmed around my ears and on my neck.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support, well wishes, good thoughts and of course prayers in our behalf.

I have to add just one more thing. This Saturday Oct. 22nd is the national make a difference day. Here in North Las Vegas, over 2100 members of the North Las Vegas Stake (LDS Church) have signed up to provide service to our City and community members. We will be cleaning around many City facilities and cleaning yards of many senior citizens and citizens in need. It is my understanding that this large of a group of volunteers has caught the eye of some national press so there may be a little blurb about our group in some news outlets. Don't know what they'll say, but we'll be the ones in the yellow "helping-hands" vests. The City is going through some pretty rough times and because of all the employee reductions and lay-offs we've been through lately, the City will really benefit from the help.

10/10/2011 Still Waiting

It's been a little over a week since we went to St. George to take all the tests for my 100 day check up. I haven't heard from Dr. Te or from LDS Hospital yet about an appointment with either of them to get my results. I'm going to contact them tomorrow or Wednesday to see if any plans are being made to get me the results. I guess if they aren't in a real hurry to see me, that is a good sign, at least we are taking it as that. So as soon as we hear anything, we'll pass it on.

Josh came up to visit (meaning Addie) this weekend, he finished his first rotation last Friday and didn't have to start his second one at Luke Air Force Base until tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. He enjoyed his first rotation and learned a lot about that type of a Pharmacy. It supplies medicines to care and rehabilitation type facilities, so it doesn't have walk-in retail clients. Josh has always said it is the type of business that he would like to maybe own some day. He finishes his second rotation the week before Thanksgiving and we are planning on going to Phoenix that weekend to move him out of his apartment and up here since the time between then and New Years and then the first 12 weeks after that will all be spent up here and in St. George before he has to go back to Phoenix for his final 6 week rotation and graduation. It will be a busy time for us since Patty will be busy helping all her staff getting ready for their Christmas setups and I will be moving my office to the new North Las Vegas City Hall that will be opening about the same time.

On another note, we did something today that we've been talking about doing for several months. We canceled our home phone number, so to get hold of either myself of Patty, you'll need to contact us on our cell phones. We just didn't use the home phone enough to justify it.

Until next time. Thanks for thinking of us.

10/2/2011 And now we wait

Yes, it has been a while again, but I warned everyone.

Last Thursday Sept. 29th marked day 100 since my second stem cell transplant and so it was time for me to take all the tests to see how things are going. Patty and I went to St. George wednesday evening and then got up thursday morning so I could go give about 7-8 vials to the lab. Then I went across the hall to get some full body X-rays to see if any more bone damage is happening. Then in the afternoon I had an appointment with a pulmonary specialist to check to see if the Chemo has effected my lung and breathing like sometimes it can. Then we got to go get something to eat since they didn't want me to eat before the pulmonary tests.

Friday morning I had an appointment with Dr. Te to get another bone marrow biopsy in my hip to get an accurate reading on what's going on inside of me. I like to get knocked out for these, so after waking up at Dr. Te's, Patty took me back to Coral Canyon to sleep for most of the day. After I woke up I had to go back to the lab one more time to give them a couple more samples for the testing.

Now we wait. Some of the tests take nearly a week to get the results and so I believe that sometime this week I will get contacted by LDS hospital to arange for a quick trip up to Salt Lake to the the results of all the tests and get the plan for maintenance for me over the next year or so.

We got up Saturday and came back to Vegas. We enjoyed a good conference weekend and always enjoy hearing the messages given.

I'm feeling real good and my hair is growing very quickly. We are looking forward to hearing some very good news so we can get on with getting back to a little more normal life. We do thank everyone for their continued support during this time in our life.

Until the results come in.

8/22/2011 Long, Long, Long Time NO Blog

You may or may not have noticed, I came home from Salt Lake and dropped out of the blogger's universe. I thought about it several times, even sat down a couple of times to write a quick word or few, but never signed in and actually wrote and posted anything.

Aside from my being extremely lazy was the fact that I really don't have anything much to write about. Since we've been home, everything is going very well, I have seen Dr. Te a couple of times and had standard blood tests taken each week. Everything they are testing for is coming out entirely normal. I am back to work full time (nearly) and am nearly weaned off any nausea medicine - not totally, but not too much. The testing that will probably be extended to bi-weekly will go until the end of September when I get the full range of tests done to see how well the second transplant went. At that time the doctors, both Dr. Te and Dr. Peterson from LDS Hospital will make the determination on what kind of maintenance drugs and how long I will need to take them. We should know this by the second week of October or pretty close to there.

My hair is just starting to grow back, I'm still pretty much bald and don't have to worry too much about shaving more than every 3-4 days. I think the results are probably a little cumulative to make the hair growth a little slower this time.

I doubt I'll be very timely in my posts, but I'll try to do a little better, maybe after we go to Utah for the holiday weekend. Hope everyone had a good summer, and everyone is doing well. OK, until next time.

7/21/2011 We're coming home - we've done our time

We got good news yesterday, all my normal blood tests were normal, and so they went forward with removing my central line yesterday afternoon. We had our exit interview and were released from LDS Hospital care. We'll be packing up today and plan on taking to the highway tomorrow morning that will put us back in Vegas sometime this weekend. We are ready to come home.

I'm not completely finished with doctors yet. I have an appointment with Dr. Te next week and at day 100 (currently about day 31) I get another complete round of blood and other tests to determine just how good everyting went this time around and they plan for my maintenance medicines and procedures that I'll have to do for a while. So keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a few more weeks at least to help with this phase of the process then hopefully we'll be in great shape and hear the "full remission" words we are waiting for.

Thank you for all your support and until next time, hope everyone is safe and well.

7/13/2011 Playing the waiting game again

As I wrote last week, I got out of the hospital a few days earlier than I thought I would and several days sooner than I did last time in April. I think that was a good thing, but it remains to be seen. I'm not as strong as I was last time and I think that follows up with what happened this week.

Don't get me wrong, I believe I was ready to get out of the hospital when I did, they were keeping a 24/7 watch on me, but I don't think it was needed any more this time around which has been backed up by how I'm doing.

It was real nice for Amanda to come up and see us last week and weekend and I was real glad she was able to make it out to see the Pronk family, we would have wanted to go but I have to be pretty careful right now. Amanda said they were all doing pretty well.

So back to me, We met with the doctors yesterday (Tues. July 12th) and didn't really know what to expect going in but many of them were trying to get my line removed and to get the exit interview at the end of this week. - Well, that's not what is going to happen. This is how we are expecting things to go if my mind and body follow the plan. Next Wednesday morning I will go into the clinic to get what is hopefully my last set of labs for a while. Then just after noon, we'll have our exit interview with the medical staff and if everything goes well with that, they'll send me downstairs to get my line removed and they will kick me loose to go back to the care of Dr. Te in St. George until about day 100 when they will run all the labs and tests again to see how we did this time about getting all the little buggers. Hopefully things will be good enough that I'll just have some maintenance medication for a while and can achieve a full remission.

If all goes as planned, we should be leaving Salt Lake Friday morning July 22 to start heading south. Since it's the holiday weekend we haven't really talked about how long it will take us to get to Vegas, but I suspect it will be a couple of days.

We'll write again next week after plans are finaled or we know anything else to tell everyone.

7/4/2011 Independence Day +1

I got a pleasant surprise yesterday on the 3rd. Everyone was happy with how my numbers were looking and they kicked me out of the hospital. I kind of thought it might be coming but didn't dare speculate incase it didn't happen.

Although, I almost went AWOL the day before on Saturday. Something happened to the air conditioning system throughout the hospital and most of the rooms were in the 85 - 90 degree range that wasn't good for many of the patients up there. some of us found a little corner or a room that for some reason was working and was much cooler than the rest of the place. Patty and I took a spot in the waiting room of the BMT Clinic and watched a movie but that was lucky for us, there were some patients with fevers that the staff was really working hard to keep stable. They said the ICU and the NICU were both affected, but we never heard of any bad news, that was very fortunate. They had A/C workers up on the roof working on it and finally got it fixed so we could all go back to our rooms, but they were waiting a while before taking some patients back to be careful.

So, yesterday July 3rd they got me ready to go home, somehow I had eaten enough for them and I had drank enough liquids for them to let me go. I guess I am one of a very small group of patients that get out of there without having a red blood cell transfusion, which is OK with me. I had two units of platelets but that was all.

Patty came up and while she was there, they let me go. I came back to the apartment and went in for a nap that other than waking up to eat and use the facilities a couple of times got over about 11:00 am this morning July 4th, so I had to leave the hospital to get the rest I really need.

Now I don't know what we are going to do about watching some fireworks, maybe we won't since they'll all be past my bedtime anyway.

I am losing most of my hair again, it just started of the past couple of days, I'll probably find a barbershop on Tuesday to take everthing down to the number 2 blade length again.

I have an appointment at the clinic tomorrow morning, that should give me a better idea as to how long we will be expected to stay in Salt Lake. I don't know what their perameters for sending me home will be exactly. I still have the Central Line Catheter in and don't expect they will order it to be taken out until next week some time when they are certain I'm ready to go.

We'll let you know as we know more. I think Amanda is coming up to see us for a few days, that will be very nice. We do thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers, I know they helped.

6/30/2011 More Platelets today

I am doing pretty well here on East 8. On Tuesday they gave me a unit of platelets because they were way down and then again today they gave me another unit of platelets. I haven't had to get any red blood cells yet, maybe tomorrow, or with lunch maybe not it my stem cells start the engrafting process and start making them for me.

The doctors come to see me each day, but don't spend too long because my situation is boring, just waiting for the stem cells to kick in and take over. Still hopeful of getting out of here by sometime next week if I can keep eating and drinking well enough for the staff here.

In some ways I am pretty lucky that I am locked up inside here with my hepa filters running. Patty is being hit very hard with allergies and has spent most of today taking medication and sleeping.

Not too much else going on, I've been checking out the windows in the hallways and I think we'll be able to see a few fireworks that will be going off on the 4th. Hope you all have have a safe holiday weekend.

6/26/2011 Here comes the Neupogen agan

It is day 6 since getting the last batch of stem cells. I'm feeling pretty good, but because all my blood counts are lowering, I have been spending a lot of time snoozing for the past couple of days. None of the numbers are low enough to require a transfussion, maybe in a couple of days-don't know.

This afternoon I got my first Neupogen shot again, you might remember it is a growth factor drug that will encourage the stem cells to get where they are suppost to be and hurry up and start producing the cells they are suppose to produce to get the system engrafted and down the road towards building up the numbers to get us out of the hospital and back to the apartment for a while until they kick us loose to head back to Vegas. I'm guessing about a week and a half if the same holds true this time around.

We talked to the kids today to wish Amanda and Matt happy birthday and also talked with Josh for his typical Sunday afternoon conversation. They all seemed to be doing pretty well and we spent the time catching up on things that had been happening with all of us

6/24/2011 Happy Birthday to Amanda and Mathew

Not too much going on these past couple of days. They take labs everymorning about4:00 am and then sometime during the day they give us the results. The blood cell numbers are starting to drop to where within a couple days I will probably have to get transfussions of some kind,whether they are red blood cells, white cells or platelets.

Happy Birthday to Mathew (today) and Amanda on Sunday, they are both doing some travelings and hope and pray they travel safely. They are both in Coral Canyon tonight because of their committments.

The doctors and nurses are working pretty well with us to act on the nausea before it becomes too bad. I still have some issues during the middle of the night and first thing each morning when I have an empty stomach, but their great to give me what I want - when I want them.

Patty is still here with me tonight to keep me company and help get me things as I need them. I can't imagine what I would do without her and all her love and support. Kimberly came up and saw us today and went to lunch with Patty. I think they had a good time.

I'll write in a few days, thanks for all you thoughts, prayers, love and support.

David Pectol should be back home tomorrow after serving his rotation in Afghanisatan, we are so grateful that he is returning safe to all of his family. We are unfortunately going to missing Jacob's baptism, he's been ready for quite some time, but was waiting for dad to come home.

6/22/2011 Now it's a waiting game

I got the stemm cells put in on Monday June 20, So I guess that's my new Birthday or "Zero" day to keep track of in the future. Everything went well with the stem cell insertion and now we are just waiting for everything to do it's thing and run it's course so my body can have it's reaction and start building back up for discharge in a couple of weeks. My numbers are still high enough that we aren't talking transfusions yet, but it's bound to happen later this week if what happened last time holds true.

Patty's been great, she comes up and sits with me. We take some walks around the East 8 Wing and say hi to some of doctors, PAs, nurses and CNAs that we know and have treated us. I didn't ask Patty tonight before she left, but I think the creamed corn smell propably gone now.

We are trying to play around with my meds to try to get the nausea under control during the middle of the night, that seems to be the worst time me, but tonight we're trying a couple of other things. It is a struggle to eat and/or drink very much this past couple of days, but we'll get through it.

Hope everyone is enjoying the great summer weather that is finally hitting us, we hope you're all safe and well.

6/19/2011 Chemo Down - Stem Cells come tommorow

I was admitted on Friday like I was suppose to. On Friday (Day -3, number 2) I was given my first dose of the Melphalan Chemotheraphy and then yesterday on Saturday I got the second dose of the Melphalan given to me. I made it through pretty well both Friday and Saturday and was doing well today until just after lunch when I got some nausea. Other than that propblem today, I had a pretty good day. Patty came up this morning and stayed for a while and then went back to the apartment for a while and then came up again later this afternoon and just left a few minutes ago.

So, tomorrow I am scheduled to get the second dose of my stem cells given back to me with will be come my new day Zero (0), the old one was March 24th for the first transplant. It will take a few hours to get the stem cells given back to me and I will remember to get some lemon wedges to smell during the process to lesson the smell, as some of you might remember, the preservative they store the stem cells in smells like creamed corn to most people, but different smells to some other people. Last time the lemon wedges worked very well for me only caught a few whiffs of the smell at times over the next couple of days.

Not too much else to share tonight, Happy Fathers Day to everyone out there, I had as good as I could have with calls from the kids. I (or Patty) will keep you posted later this week and let you know how things are going. Until then thanks for all you prayers and support, I really believe it helps.

6/16/2011 Back in Salt Lake again

Well, here we go again. We left Las Vegas fairly early on Wednesday morning 6/15 and spent most of the day making our way up the I-15 corridor. We stopped in St. George to see Bruce, Chris and Tyler for a while and then Patty had to go the Kohl's for a work errand. Then we went to Coral Canyon and picked up a couple of items to bring up with us. Then we hopped on the freeway and made it to Cedar City where Patty had to make a work stop at the Smith's there. Then we had to drop something off at Bruce and Cara's house in Parowan before meeting Mom, Dad and Mike in Beaver for lunch. It was good to see Mom, Dad and Mike in Beaver and we hope that Beverly gets over what's ailing her right now. Then we hopped on the freeway again and other than a quick stop in Nephi to change drivers made our way the rest of the way to Salt Lake.

We met Mr. Tanner at the front door to the Parc Towers building at the Gateway - this is the same building that we rented in before although this time we're on the 7th floor instead of the 10th floor we were on last time. The apartment is pretty nice and although very similar to the other one we had, it's a little bit bigger and wider that our previous one. We don't look west towards the freeway and railroad tracks this time, we actually look south towards the next door building, it's much quieter at night.

This morning we got up, I had to eat early because of the anesthesia I would be getting later today. Our first appointment was at 10:45 at the BMT (Blood and Marrow Transplant) Clinic to check in at give labs, go over my current status and update my medical information. Then we went into a conference with Dr. Hoda so we could discuss what is going to happen and sign the consent forms to let it happen beginning tomorrow. We got done with them about 12:15.

My next appointment wasn't until 2:00 this afternoon so Patty and I went to Smith's and did some shopping to get her through the next week or two. Then we went back to the hospital and checked in with the imaging department to get my Central Line put back in. We showed up at a little before 2:00 (which was when my appointment was) and sat in the waiting room for about a half hour. Then they called me back to what they call the recovery room, but it's also the preparation room. . They got me ready and then for about the next two hours, we waited for them to ready to take me into the surgery room for the installation. Finally they took me into the surgery room and got me on the table and prepared for the surgery. The surgery is not too hard, but they use some pretty fancy equipment that allows the doctor to see where the artery is in real time so they can place the line tube in exactly the proper location since they have to thread it and hit it at the right location otherwise there is some danger because of the artery they place it in. Then they took me back to the recovery room and they had to watch me for well over an hour before they would release me.

Tomorrow morning we will go back to the hospital and they will admit me once again to the 8th floor east wing to begin the process that will start with the Melphalan Chemo treatments on Friday and Saturday.

I'll try to write again this weekend and let everyone know what's going on with us. I want to wish everyone a happy Father's Day and hope everyone's having a good summer. So until then, thanks again for all your support.

6/7/2011 The plans are made

We got the word from the LDS Hospital that everything is set. We will be doing the pre-admittance testing at Dixie Hospital on June 9th and then on the 16th we'll meet with the staff at LDS Hospital, get my Central Line put back in and then on Friday June 17th I'll get admitted and they will start the Chemo treatment so that on Monday or Tuesday they will do the second transplant and I'll begin the recovery period after that.

Hopefull I can respond to this go around as well as I did the last time, if I can it will minimize the time we have to be in Salt Lake.

We will keep everyone informed, and most likely Patty will make some of the posts for at least the first couple of weeks.

5/31/2011 Are we ready for Round 2 - Ready or Not

When last I wrote, we were waiting for the results of the tests to see how successful the transplant was for us. Since then I was called to St. George last week to have another Bone Marrow Biopsy - that means drill a hole in my hip again, this was the 4th one I've had in the last 14 months. The reason for the Biopsy was to tip the scales one way or the other since the first set of tests resulted in some good numbers and some other numbers that weren't bad, but not as good as the doctor's would like.

Last Thursday I got a call from Cindy from LDS Hospital with the news that Dr. Peterson reviewed everything and suggests that we have the second transplant this summer because although the results of the Biopsy were good, the overall results needed to be very good to acheive a good remission and go directly to maintenance and not have the second transplant right now. I have to admit, I was a little depressed and told Cindy that I'd need to come home and talk with Patty and that I would call her today with our decision.

We went to Parowan over the weekend and spent the weekend with Bruce and Cara. We went on a great ATV ride Saturday before the storms came in and found some beautiful rock formations in the north hills of Parowan Valley. Josh was still up for his quarter break and came with us, we all (including Addie) had a very good time and were able to see mom and dad also. They are in the middle of the spring runoff and all the streams were flowing above their normal amounts. In fact, there is actually water in the Little Salt Lake which has been dry for quite some time now.

So, I called Cindy back today as I said I would, we talked and tentatively made plans for me to get my pre-admittance tests and procedures done at Dixie Medical Center at the end of next week, probably June 9th or 10th and then probably end up in Salt Lake around June 16th to be admitted on Friday June 17th if we can get insurance OK. If things work out, we should be in Salt Lake for 5-6 weeks and then be able to come home. This will hopefully give us the good remission that we are looking for.

After going through it the first time, I can't say that I'm looking forward to a second transplant at this time. I'm really starting to feel pretty normal and was looking forward to building my strength and stamina this summer, but I need to get to the remission stage so we'll put up with the inconvenience again to get there. We appreciate your support, your thoughts and all your prayers and we will get through this bump in the road. I'll write again as soon as the details are firmed up and until then, I hope everyone has a great summer.

5/16/2011 Waiting for the results

Again it's been a while since I've written anything, there hasn't been too much going on. I went back to work and things are going well for us.

We went to St. George last Thursday to get labs done for my 50 day results to see how the success of the transplant went for me. The blood suckers took about 7 or 8 vials so they could run all the tests they need to determine the success. I also had to give some other specimens to be tested too. The hardest part is that all the tests to figure out how the transplant went take close to a week to get the results back, so we won't know the results for at least a week, or maybe two.

Friday morning we went to my appointment at Dr. Te's office to check in with him to make sure all my normal blood work and systems are doing. Things went very well with my appointment and so I got another week off, I don't have to meet with him until next Friday May 27th, so that's when we think we'll find out the results of the tests to measure the success of the transplant.

After the appointment, we went out to visit with mom and dad before they pull the trailer back to Parowan to get ready to go on the mountain once the snow melts enough to get up there. We had a very good visit and were glad they hadn't left Hurricane yet.

When we learn more, I'll let you know what the results are and where we go from here. Thanks again to all of you for supporting us and your thoughts and prayers.

5/2/2011 Long time No Blog - I warned you.

It has been a long time since I wrote. Quite a bit has happened, most of it very good. We did leave Salt Lake on Thursday April 21st and traveled to St. George, we met with Dr. Te on Friday April 22nd and everything went well. He decided he wanted to meet with me each week to check on me and then we went out to Hurricane to see mom and dad for a while before we left to go to Vegas.

It was nice getting back to Vegas, to be back in the house with some kind of normal life was a little strange to get use to. I slept a lot the first few days because I think I finally relaxed. My stomach is still very touchy because of the side effects from the melphalan chemo a month ago, I guess it really tears up the stomach lining so I'm having to keep taking nausea medicine and I have good days and bad days where the stomach is concerned. Other than that I'm feeling pretty good and as I build up more strength and stamina, I'm feeling quite normal most of the time.

I went back to work part time on Wednesday April 27th for about half a day and then spent most of Thursday at work before leaving early to go back to St. George to get my blood taken in preparation for my Friday appointment with Dr. Te. The good news from that appointment is that I get a week off from all appointments and it will be Thursday May 12 before I have to have labs done again, which will be the extensive labs they will use to evaluate the myeloma at day 50. I don't know yet, but anticipate that I will have an appointment on May 19th or 20th to find out the results and find out where we go from there as far as continued treatment.

We got to see Bruce and Cara for a while on Thursday evening before they went home to Parowan. Josh came up from Phoenix this past weekend to see us. It was very good to see him and Addie. He has about 3 more weeks until he gets a quarter break for a week. We hope his finals for this quarter go well and he gets along well during his upcoming summer quarter before he starts his year of internships.

I will try to be a little better reporting, I guess I can report on how my stomach is doing as I try to determine what foods work and don't work for me these days (I don't think Pizza is a good choice for me yet), I had bad stomach day yesterday and it's not starting out great today. I actually came to work on time this morning, so we'll see how I last today and this week. Hope everyone is well and I'll write again soon.

4/18/2011 Got my Release - Leaving Salt Lake City

We met with Dr. Petersen today and had what they call my exit interview which means we'll be leaving Salt Lake this Thursday so we can make an appointment with Dr. Te this Friday morning.

We talked about my treatment to date and where we go from here, Dr. Petersen said we'd be evaluated again at around Day 50 (we're now on day 25) to see the % effectivness of the transplant we just went through to see how everything is going. We are going to be able to have all the labs done in St. George and then Dr. Petersen, his team and Dr. Te will evaluate what they mean and where we go from here.

I think I've gotten very good treatment from the BMT team here in Salt Lake at the LDS Hospital program and would recommend them to anyone looking for a treatment location.

The apartment we rented up here worked out very well, it is a one bedroom condo unit in the Gateway Complex just west of downtown Salt Lake. The only drawback is the proximity to the train tracks that move a lot of the freight and all the commuters, you learn to ignore them, but occcaisionally when you wake up during the night hours they can be a bit distracting getting back to sleep. It's been a different experience living in a medium rise (12 story) building, we're on the 10th floor and our parkinig spot is in the first level of the basement, so moving everything you need on a daily basis through an elevator is a whole lot different than going through the laundry room and the garage at home. But, that being said, if and when we have to come up again for at least 60 days at a time, we'll probably try to see if he has any openings available in this complex because of how convenient it is to everything in Salt Lake.

We're looking forward to being home, but that also means that my postings will probably not be as frequent as they have been because of the reduced amount of activity we'll be having, but we'll see what happens. Again I would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers in our behalf. We will write again soon.

4/15/2011 Got my Central Line taken out - Good Day

Today was a good day, I'm a little sore, but that's a good thing considering. I had an appointment this morning and thanks to the water Nazi's Patty and Amanda I drank plenty of water so my kidneys worked very well and my blood tests let them take out my Central Line.

The sore part is that I didn't know it before today, but about one half inch under my skin the Central Line has a raised cup around it that keeps it from pulling out and it's the only part of the line that forms any kind of a binding with your skin, so they have to dig around the line and open up your skin to get it loose enough to pull the rest of the line out. Once the cup is free the rest of the line slides right out and I got to see the working end of the Central Line, that was pretty interesting.

It didn't hurt at all to get the line taken out since they gave me plenty of local anesthesia on the surface where the line entered and since it was local, I was awake and alert and was able to see the whole process, which at first I wasn't sure I wanted to see, but as it turned out, it was pretty cool to see and experience, but a couple hours later as the local started to wear off, it became a little sore to the feel and the touch (it is under a bandage) as the doctor had to dig around and cut things apart. I will get to see it tomorrow evening when I change the bandage on it.

The other thing that made it a good day is we set up an appointment for next Monday with Dr. Petersen to talk about letting me head for home. I hope everything goes well with that appointment, we'll have to stop in St. George for a couple of days since they will release me back to Dr. Te in St. George and I'll have an appointment with him before I'm totally released, so it could be the first of the following week or more before we make it back to Vegas.

I'll have to come back to Salt Lake in a few weeks to see how my stem cells are responding and how they are battling the MM (bad stuff), hopefully things are working well.

I'll post again next week after we know more about what is actually going on with us. Hope everyone is doing well and we'll talk to all of you soon. We'll be putting Amanda on the plane tomorrow, it was nice she could come up. We got some other good news last night after seeing Daniel's post on facebook, that was very good news for Daniel, Kim and the family.

4/12/2011 To the Clinic for a Check-up

We had an appointment at the BMT Clinic today to see how I'm doing. It went pretty well and for a while we thought I might be getting the central line out today which would have put us that much closer to being ready to head home, I mean actually home as in Vegas, then reality struck and they brought in today's blood results and turns out that my kidneys weren't very happy today since I haven't been drinking enough fluids to make them happy.

So Dr. Asch came in and they hung a liter of fluids on me to make my kidneys happy and then she talked about what we have to do to make my kidneys happy enough that they feel food about taking out my central line and getting closer to being released from the the Clinic. So I promised I would drink a lot more water and other qualifying liquids and we made a new appointment for this Friday to see how I have done in the liquid department. I hope I do well because it will be nice to get ready to head for home. It won't be easy because I still have nausea and with it comes some bad taste of quite a few of the foods and liquids I try to eat and drink, but I plan on doing it because the reward is way worth it.

On another note, Amanda is flying up thursday night to spend a couple of days with us, it's been a couple of weeks since we've seen her and it will be nice to have her around for a few days, Patty will really enjoy the time with her being here.

We are hoping for a good Friday checkup and some good news that will come from that, until then, we hope everyone is doing well and having a great spring. Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers on our behalf.

4/8/2011 Out of the Hospital - hopefully for good

Thank you to my dear wife Patty during the past couple of weeks giving you updates as to our status while I was in the hospital getting the chemo treatment and everything else that was going on. They let me out today so I figured I would do my own post today.

Those of you on facebook already heard about my release thanks to the posts by Amanda, she always has fresh news when it's available and gets out to more than those that follow my little blog, so I'm gratefull for her efforts.

Thank you to all of you that have prayed and had good thoughts for us during the past few weeks. It was an interesting experience being an in patient for so long, I have never been locked up for such a long time before and I sort of lost tract of times and dates during this period and I am looking forward to rejoinging the world in real time that will match what it going on with the rest of the world.

We are not completely free yet, we still have to stay in Salt Lake for at least a couple of weeks to make sure all the numbers stay good and will keep us running in the right direction. The numbers are doing very well, all of them are doing what they are suppose to be doing to keep me going in the right direction. I am very greatful to the doctors and staff at the LDS BMT Clinic and in patient nurses and aides that took great care of me over the last few weeks.

We'll keep you posted as things progress towards us being released to go back to Vegas and let you know how things are going. Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers and we'll post again soon.

April 5 The fruit basket is the only fruit in the room I think?

Hello everyone it is Patty, hopefully Bart will feel up to writing the next post. It has been a great day when we got Bart's numbers this morning his nuetrafills had gone from 200 yesterday to 1100 today, translation his stem cells are starting to do their work. They say that this means the engrafting process is happening. He also hasn't needed any blood products, which also means his body is doing what it is suppose to do,, there has to be a joke somewhere in that sentence.
Can I just say YEA! If he can start eating a little more and have a little less nausea, we can get out of here.
Some of the previous problem from the last post has been resolved, and we really did get a fruit basket delivered, so that is why the fruit reference. Bart still has some vivid dreams, but let us just say he's not traveling quite so far. I thiink he is kind of upset at me for that.
We both try to stay in good spirits. We long for the next step and to go back to our home, although it really stinks we've been up here for the crummy weather, and when we go home we'll be into the 100's. But life is good even if your melting.
I know I say this every time, but I just can't help myself, thank you all for your well wishes and you love.
Love, Bart & Patty

April 3 "That is why I do it"

It's me again just trying to keep you up to speed. All through our married life Bart has been a blood donor, I admired his dedication also the free stuff he got, some of it wasn't bad. The last few years they convinced him to give platelets, which took more time and it caused some discomfort because he had to lay out with his arm perfectly still for a considerable amount of time. When he would come home being sore I of course would say "just go back to the regular giving you don't need to do platelets". Well of course this week Bart's platelets took a dive and he was the recipient of someone else's generosity. So again he can turn to me and say " that is why I do it". Things have progressed through the week his numbers have actually improved. The difficulty we are experiencing is possibly being over medicated for his nausea.
It is a fine line to medicate but not overdue it. Basically Bart is traveling on some really good trips without leaving his room. I've heard a lot of interesting conversations and he is solving of all sorts of problems. I'm going to meet with Doctors tomorrow to see what we can come up with.
I'm sure it sounds fun to be in another place, any place other than here, but I also don't think it is healthy. He also doesn't want to eat so that has posed challenge for me to try to present something he will try. I do know he will eat an ice cream drum stick, but somehow I don't think steady diet of them will help anyone.
We keep in good spirits. My good friend Donna from Las Vegas came up and spent a few days with me. Bart got a kick out of her visits as well.
We are grateful for all the calls and prayers from everyone. We hope to be home soon.
Love,
Bart and Patty

March 30 the cream corn is gone!

This is Patty again, I'm sure Bart will be able to be back blogging fairly soon, so bare with my ramblings.
Cream corn is gone, is kind of a strange title but the explanation is simple. When they freeze stem cells as they did Barts, they freeze them in a chemical DMSO. When they put them back in, it has a smell that everyone else can smell, Bart is they only one that cannot smell it. It smells different to everyone. My nose smelled sweet cream corn, some others it smelled like tomatoe soup. Go figure, the things you learn.....
Bart has had a few pretty rough days, his nausea has intensified, it is brought on by any motion, so basically it is like being on a cruise, without any of the fun. Last night however they brought out his fourth nausea medicine, it can only be given every three days, but this morning he is feeling better! Maybe we have found the magic bullet. His numbers have finally reached bottom, so from here we can only go up.He will be scheduled for a transfusion possibly tomorrow, he also will receive his first neupogen shot, this will stimulate his stem cells, hopefully to go and conquer.
We are pleased that other than the nausea, he has been pain free and mouth sore free, which is such a blessing. We are so thankful for the nursing staff they have been fantastic.
I would be remiss not to thank everyone for all the well wishes. From the sweet little Nathan,Jacob, Todd and Ben for making our cancer monster we can shoot with the nerd gun. To my friend Donna Arnold taking the time to come up and keep me company, from all the calls and prayers. We are so lucky.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, Bart and Patty

March 27 it's me Patty

Thought I'de write today, day 3, in stem cell terms, on behalf of Bart. We seem to be in the thick of it, Bart is doing well , just seems to have an issue with keeping his eyes open and keeping his stomach on an even keel, which they tell us is par for the course. We have been experiencing slow dropping of his numbers, white cells ect. But no fevers as of yet.
Bart was able to have a lot of visiitors this weekend because everyone was here for our nieces wedding, which was beautiful. His mom and dad,both bothers and family. We are so grateful for the time spent, hospitals can make you crazy, the same thing everyday, so it is good to have the distraction. Also our kids were up Amanda, Ryan, and Matt it is so good to have a little bit of home come to us.
We are grateful for modern medicine we are up to 3 types of nausea medicine, 1 atavan, this is mild with a slight sedative effect 2. Mannol which they tell us is all the good stuff out of the marijuana plant without the buzz, doesn't seem quite fair. None the less this is to help increase appetite, so I guess that craving thing is true. 3. Then a patch sort of like the motion sickness patch you can get when you fly or go boating. You would think with all these things we could have one heck of a party....no such luck, just trying to keep his lunch down.
We are still in good spirits, we know this week will be hard as his numbers continue to go down, but we have faith that there is real progress on the other end.
We'de like to express our thanks for everyone that fasted on Barts behalf, we know that there are many prayers said for us daily, we cannot express our gratitude sufficiently. Thank you

3/21/2011 Welcome to Day -3

Day -3 is what the BMT team refers to today for me. Day 0 will be on Thursday when they give me the stem cells. Then all the days will count positive from then on.

I guess you probably guessed by now that I am now an in patient in the hospital and I've spent the day hooked up to an infusion pump with liquids going into me all day. I had my first dose of Melphalan Chemo a while ago and so far everything is going well up here on the 8th floor east wing in LDS hospital. My nurse today is Kyle, he and the staff are taking good care of me and of course Patty always takes great care of me.

I'll get my second dose of Melphalan tomorrow on day -2 and then have a rest day on Wednesday before the transplant on Thursday.

Everyone travel safely and I hope to see some of you (the non sick or infected ones) this weekend.

3/18/2011 My Last Weekend of Freedom

We met with Dr. Asch from the BMT team this afternoon to go over my latest test results and see where we go from here. The result of the meeting is that I will be admitted to the hospital on Monday morning around 9:00 am to begin the transplant process. Most of the numbers were very good, a couple weren't quite as good as we hoped, but they were good enough to go forward.

The schedule as it stands right now is this: Monday and Tuesday I get the Melphalan Chemo treatments which are a high dose chemo that will basically destroy my immune system and clear the deck in preparation of getting the stem cell transplant by infusion on Thursday after a rest day Wednesday. Then from there, I begin the process of replacing all the blood and platelets in my system over the next couple of weeks. I will need transfusions and lots of good care to get through it to be ready to be released to come back to the apartment in 2 to 3 weeks after getting the transplant. Then hopefully about 2 weeks after that, we can head for home.

I will be a serious bubble boy during the time in the hospital and while back at the apartment, then gradually getting better after that. I hope to be able to have visitors, but only if you're feeling well and are pretty sure you haven't be exposed to anyone or anything that might compromise my system. Unfortunately it means I will not be able to attend the wedding or reception next week, but Patty and most of the kids will represent for us. Unfortunately Josh won't be able to come up for the festivities because of school tests and preparation.

We're very optimistic that the procedures will be successful, but still hope that all of you will keep us and our medical providers in your thoughts and prayers during the next couple of weeks while the process takes place. The BMT team at LDS have a very successful track record with this sort of thing, but we need all the help we can get.

Until the next time, everyone be safe and well.

3/14/2011 Tests today

It's Monday and we just got back from the hospital after I had blood drawn for tests, an EKG and another chest X-Ray. I've got to go back up to the hospital tomorrow morning for a full body series of X-Rays, the same series that I had last April when they found the two leisions in my T-9 vertebrae. This should be the last tests before I go in patient next week, at least we're hoping that after the meeting we have with the doctors this Friday afternoon they will set a date to admit me.

The reality of the time change will set in tomorrow morning as I have to get up for an 8:15 am appointment, up until now, we didn't have any early appointments so the time change really hadn't taken effect on us, should be interesting.

Not that I'm looking forward to being admitted, that means the really serious stuff starts and in a week or so I will be in sad shape. But we've got to do it and take the steps to get on the other side of this stuff.

We've got some texts from Amanda, they are having a great time and we're looking forward to hearing about their trip when they get back.

It was overcast and sprinkling this morning, but this afternoon is turning out to be a pretty nice day. Hope everyone's day and week are going well and I'll check in again soon. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and support.

3/11/2011 Enjoying the Great Weather

Nothing medical going on, we don't have an appointment until Monday but wanted to make a couple of notes.

We spent a good day today at the Hill Air Force Base Air Museum, I didn't even know they had one until Patty said something about it after she and the boys had gone to Roy to eat at the Burger Bar which had been on Diners Drive Inns and Dives. It was a very enjoyable time at the museum, they have aircraft from the 20's and 30's through WWII and up to a B1. We had a great time and learned a lot about early aircraft and their uses and time frames, I would suggest a trip there to anyone that has an interest in aircraft, especially military aircraft, equipment, engines, missiles and things associated with them.

After we went through the museum, we went across the freeway and ate at the Burger Bar, it was pretty good.

On the "It's a small world" front, I forgot to mention this in the last post. When we were at the hospital for the educational meetings we had, I went back to get my vitals taken and all the prep work they normally do on me. While I was in the back, Patty was sitting next to a couple and during some conversation found out they were from Cedar and upong further conversation found out that they are Misty's (That's the Plank_5 from the followers list) aunt and uncle, he had a stem cell tranplant several months ago and they were up for a follow up check. He looked good and said everything was going well, he had some different challenges because his was a donor supplied transplant and the stem cells weren't from his siblings.

Our prayers go out to those in the tragedy in Japan.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and we'll post again soon.

3/9/2011 Time for a new Look

After pulling handfuls of hair out of my head while washing my hair the past several mornings, we made the decision that it was time to admit the Chemo had done it's job and I was rapidly going bald. You can see I didn't shave it, so there is always going to be a little bit falling out. We had an experience at the shop. The lady asked me what type of a cut I was after and so I quietly told her I was a Chemo patient and it was time to take it off because I was losing my hair. So, after getting buzzed, I went to the counter to pay for it and the ladies had kind of funny looks on their faces, they said that the guy that had been in the chair behind me and had finished a couple of minutes before me had paid for my haircut, he must have overheard what I told the lady that cut my hair. The act touched Patty and I quite deeply and we were very appreciative of his compassion on our behalf, now I need to look around for a good opportunity to pay it forward for someone else.

We had some educational meetings with staff members yesterday to give us an idea what life on the ward would be like, no real surprises other than some of the restrictions due to my lack of having a full immune system to fight off bugs.

The doctors and staff had a meeting today concerning where I go now and what the next steps are. I have appointments next Monday March 14th to get some tests re-run to see where my MM markers are at this time. We will then have an appointment on Friday March 18th to get the calendar on when everything will take place.

Cara came by tonight she was in Provo dealing with wedding things and took some time at the end of the day to come see us. Patty and I are grateful for that, it is nice to have company to break the day up and they really miss each other's company that we came to be around them quite a bit during the past year or so. We wish her well in her travels back to Parowan tomorrow night.

The medicines are starting to flush out of my body again and I'm feeling quite a bit better than I did last week and even over the weekend, I'm grateful for that. Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers, I'll write again soon.

3/7/2011 The Collection process is Complete

Figured I'd better get a blog coming since Amanda already knows and I'm sure is hitting everyone she knows with texting and facebook and her blog.

We got a call this afternoon from the BMT Clinic with the good news. The Cytoxan protocol did exactly what what they wanted it to do, it crushed everything back and then with the help of the Neupogen and the other growth additives they went right to the bones, or where ever it is that stem cells hang out before becoming stem cells. They kicked them in the butt and got them working so well that today was most likely my last collection day. My body gave up 6.9 million stem cells today, that's more than the first effort combined, so now I have a combined total of 14.4 million stem cells for them to play with a get get ready to give back to me at some future date. We don't have the schedule for rest of the trip but expect to get on during the next few days.

I'm sure glad that medically the body has been responding well to all the treatment, because physically I haven't felt very well the last couple of days with nausea, bone ache and overall just kind of rotten feeling, they say a lot of this can be from the fall out from the Neupogen and other growth factors, hopefully they will start going away as I don't take the medicines anymore. I'm still wearing the mask anytime I'm in public and also washing my hands quite often as much of my immune system is gone from the Cytoxan. I've still got the majority of my hair, but it is starting to come out a little at a time, I probably need to get a new haircut that will work with the challenges.

As always, Patty has been great in taking care of me and still dealing with everything she's got going in her life, I really don't know what I would do without her.

We had some questions about donating blood in my name to help me when it is needed. We checked with the hospital and they stopped doing that program some time ago. So the only thing I can tell you is to go ahead and dontate and just think of the good you can do for what ever family gets the blood products you donate.

We have meetings tomorrow with staff from the BMT Clinic to go over the in patient protocols and procedures, we'll let you know what comes from those meetings.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers in our behalf, they are working, and so in the words of the dunkin donuts guy "I made the donuts" Now we get to see how they turn out.

3/4/2011 Heading for the Weekend

It's Friday and not much is new, we picked Amanda up at the airport around noon. We are very happy she has come up to see us this weekend before Ryan and her jet off to the Big Apple and City of Brotherly Love next week for a spring break vacation with some friends.

My numbers are starting to rebound as they said they would, I think that is good. I only had to have the one transfusion and I believe that's a good thing because the way they talked, I think they were suspecting I would have to have more than the one I wrote about.

A few years ago there was a commercial for dunkin donuts, it was a guy that would get up and say "I'm going to make the donuts" then he would come back through the door exhausted and say "I made the donuts". This repeated several times until at one time he meets himself at the door as he is both coming and going to and from the donuts. At times, this is how Patty and I feel, we're up at 7:00 to get to the hospital for 8:00 am shots and have to be back at the hospital for 8:00 pm shots, I know that's 12 hours apart but with getting my naps in and getting a nights sleep in between, it seems like that's about all we do.

I'm not complaining, just a little bored, but with my numbers starting to rebound there is a good chance we'll be beginning the collection process early next week and that's a good thing that brings us closer to the in patient and transplant process which have their own challenges, but are steps in the right direction.

We're looking forward to a good weekend with Amanda and will put her back on a plane on Sunday to send her home to Ryan. Josh traveled back to Arizona today to get ready for school to start next week. Thanks again to all of you for your good thoughts and prayers, I know they help us in our process.

3/1/2011 How about a Transfusion today

We got up this morning and went to the BMT Clinic as we have done for the past few days, they took my vitals and ran labs on my blood. A while later the nurse came in and told us that the red blood cell number was very low, it had fallen below 24.0, I don't really understand it, but at that point they said we needed a transfusion to get the red blood cells above the number to help my body. At this time the white blood cells and platelets numbers are low but were still high enough not to require any transfusions for their benefit.

Patty stayed with me to get me settled in the transfusion room and they got the first unit of blood hung and going into me. Then she came back to the condo to talk with the boys who had been staying with us all of this weekend so they could get on the road and get back to Vegas during the daylight.

The transfusions went pretty well, the first bag went in with no problems and when it finished the nurse hung the second unit and it too did it's job. So now we will be looking to see how the other numbers are holding up and if they are doing what the doctors think they will. I anticipate we will need further transfusions before the collection process begins this weekend or the first of next week.

I really feel pretty good today, we both came home and took a nap this afternoon to rest our bodies and be ready for our return trip to the hospital at 8:00 tonight to get more Neupogen and the other growth factor shots that should be starting the springboard effect to help with my collections.

It's been a very pretty day in Salt Lake today, warmer than we have be accustomed to, we opened a window and enjoyed the cool air coming into the condo this afternoon. We enjoyed having the boys visit, hopefully they enjoyed their time up here. We will write again soon and hope everyone out there is doing well.

2/27/2011 Making it through the weekend

As you all know I came home Wednesday late afternoon and then didn't have anything going on all day on Thursday. Friday came and I had to go in for labs to see if the effects of the Cytoxan were starting, not sure what the lab results said, but I didn't have to get any transfusions, so for now that's a good thing.

Saturday came and the boys came up to see us Josh and Matt are staying until Tuesday morning I think and I'm going to make sure Patty gets out with them to have some fun so my bubble boy status doesn't hinder their ability to have a pretty good time. They beat the storm coming up as they stayed in Parowan Friday night and got up early to make it up here. As far as my bubble boy status, I have to mask up when I go outside and am around groups of people that I don't know their health status. In the Car I usually take the mask off and once I get to the BMT clinic I can also take it off.

So, Sunday begins the twice a day shots, it's day 6 since getting the Cytoxan and in order to take advantage of the spring board effect that the doctors want, they are giving me Neupogen twice a day and another growth drug every night with the second dose of Neupogen each day. I also get to start a pretty heavy dose of anti-biotics to know down anything that might sneak past the mask and Patty to threaten me. Everyone is taking great care of me and I hope that my nausea can stay down so I don't waste any medicine that needs to help me.

They tell me that eventually I will need transfusions because my blood numbers will be so low, don't know when that will come, but will deal with when the time comes. I believe the care I'm receiving at LDS hospital is as good as it would be anywhere and better than most places, I appreciate they do their best to treat me as a person and not just as a name and birthdate as some places might.

2/24/2011 Out of the Hospital - for now

Got out of LDS hospital yesterday late afternoon, I came home and rested. We checked in about 8:30 Tuesday morning and immediately they opened up the ports on my central line started hooking medicine to them, I have three outlets on my Central Line and for most of the day they had all three hooked up. They brought up the blood tests and confirmed that the numbers we had worked so hard to get down to appropriate levels, had started back up and the diagnosis that Dr. Peterson had made was validated.

First I got Saline with Lasex ? that helps the fluids flow where they are suppose to flow - about as fast as they can. Then they hooked me up with another one called Mesna, which is a medicine to counteract the side effects of the Cytoxan (Chemo) that was to come later, it helps the bladder to not bleed and other side effects. Then after they ran both of them for a while, they hooked up some anti nausea medicine to me on the third port to get me ready for the main event. After the anti nausea they hooked up the Cytoxan and it ran it's course, all this while I was feeling pretty good, just sitting back watching TV and talking with Patty who was great all the time. They gave me some Dex, but it was only half the dose 5 pills that I had been taking at home, this was during the afternoon and I wondered how it would effect my that night.

About 7:00 they do shift change which is pretty normal for most hospitals, the night shift we got we OK but not as personable as the day shift, about every three hours they would come and change my Saline and Lasex and every 2 - 4 hours they would do vital signs. For some reason my blood pressure was up during most of the time I was in there. I'm not a back sleeper and that along with the effects of the DEX, I didn't get much sleep Tuesday night. I finally got the night nurse to give me a little something and so I probably got about 3 hours of dozing off and on sleep, maybe a little more, but it felt like less. I ended up kicking Patty out about 8:45 so she could go back to the condo to get a little more rest than being in the chairs in the room.

Morning came and I was feeling pretty lousy, I woke up with a splitting headache that needed some help, they gave me some medicine and it seemed to help. They came into get vitals first thing and I ordered breakfast, LDS has a pretty cool thing, you order room service from a menu when you feel like it and get to pick pretty much what you want to eat, it was nice. Breakfast came and I ate it, the food was pretty good. Then an hour or so later they came back in to take vitals again and that's when the fun began.

As I sat up for the CNA to get my vitals I started feeling a little nausea, at first it wasn't too bad so I didn't think about it, then it got bad and I threw up a little in my throat, I tried to get Patty's attention but it was too late all I could do was cover my mouth and that succeeded in making it spew all over the place - not a pretty site for those in the room, I felt bad for every one there because I was shaking a no help and they all got to clean up after me. I took a quick shower while they cleaned up the room and the bed. I got back into bed and after that kept the bucket with me the rest of the day, gladly I only needed it one other time briefly. At this time the PA came in and it was doubtful that I would be coming home yesterday, but everything else stayed down for the rest of the day and they finally kicked me loose about 5:00 yesterday. I came home with more medicine, a lot of nausea medicine, some antibiotics and others that are designed to keep me OK until I get back under their care.

I don't have anything to do today, but beginning tomorrow I go to give some more labs to start monitoring my levels to make sure the Cytoxan is doing what they designed it to do. Then again a couple of days later Day 6 - (Day 1 was getting the Cytoxan) to start getting the Neupogen and other growth factors to catch the rebound of the stem cell production for the best collection. So now Patty is justified in treating me like a bubble boy, when I go out I need to wear my heppa mask and I need to wash my hands and stay more cleaned up than I normally had done in the past. I will now be a week or two of tracking blood levels, taking shots and staying pretty close to home until I'm ready to begin collection again.

Looking forward for the boys to come and visit this weekend, the unfortunate part is that we won't be able to be to outgoing with them, I'll have to kick them and Patty out of the house to go have some fun if the weather will permit.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers, they do help.

2/20/2011 Slight change - On to Plan B

We met with Dr. Peterson on Friday, Patty had a strange feeling about why we were meeting with him instead of someone else since he is the head of the BMT unit and I guess she was kind of right.

Dr. Peterson said that because it was difficult for me to get high stem cell collection numbers and because some of my myeloma markers weren't as low as he was hoping and because it has now been 5-6 weeks since I was on Revlimid he talked to us about changing the protocol to interject some different procedures and medicines before I get back to the collection process, so here is the current plan.

On Tuesday I will be admitted to the hospital to be given Cytoxan (a chemotherapy) intravenously so they can monitor me and then after about 5-6 days they will start with the Neupogen and another growth agent to get the stem cells loosened up and ready for collection, then they will monitor me to see when the numbers are high enough to begin the collection and I'll be back to lying on my back for 4 hours every day until they get the rest of the stem cells we are looking for. The reason for the Cytoxan is because the way Dr. Peterson explained it, it creates a spring board effect for the stem cells, the body gets beat down but with the Neupogen and other growth factors it bounces back stronger and with higher numbers.

Dr. Peterson said that it has been his experience that changing to this protocol has shown in other patients to give us a better chance at a significantly longer period of remission, so it may take an extra week or two, but I'll trade that for more years of remission on the back end.

I'll have to enter the bubble boy period a little sooner with this protocol, but since I'm boring and don't go anywhere anyway it won't be too big of a pain for me, I'll have to learn to wear the heppa mask when we go out amongst the population.

We've really enjoyed having Amanda and Ryan up to visit us this weekend, we got to give Ryan his initiation to IKEA on Saturday and then they went out last night with one of his old Missionary Companions. They will be traveling back to Vegas tomorrow (Monday).

I'll write later this week and give a report on the status of my hair and anything else that comes to mind at the time.

2/17/2011 Ready for more Collection

We had a good time back in Vegas but now it's time to come back to Salt Lake to get on with the treatment.

Who could have imagined how hard it would be to get my Central Line bandage changed. Everyone thought it would be no big deal to get a health care place to change the bandage and flush the lines. What they forgot or didn't know is that in order for someone to do this work, you must have a signed order by a Nevada licensed doctor and I don't have one. LDS Hospital tried faxing orders and called a lot of places and I even tried going to a Quick Care center to see if they would help me, but no one could or would.

So even though it was a couple of days longer than they wanted, they made an appointment for me with the Infusion Center at Dixie Hospital and we left Wednesday morning to make the appointment. They were very nice and when I told my story to the nurse, she told me that Utah has the same law as Nevada, that it would have to be a Utah doctor to give the orders to change the bandage at a Utah health facility.

We have an appointment tomorrow (Friday) and I will start my shots to be ready for the collection process to begin again, probably next Tuesday.

Amanda and Ryan are coming up to spend the weekend with us, we are looking forward to spending time with them, hope the weather doesn't lock us in the condo all weekend. I'll write more in a few days.

2/10/2011 Back in Vegas for a few days

After a week of collection, my body didn't give up the numbers we were hoping for so they sent us home for a couple of weeks to let the body recuperate and get ready to finish the collection process. My collection total to date is approx. 5.7 million stem cells and they need about 5 million for each transplant (they always want a minimum amount for two transplants).

The last day of collection was last Saturday but we had to stay around in Salt Lake until Monday when I could get my central line bandage changed and get some instructions from the BMT staff and my patient coordinator. We left Salt Lake around noon on Monday and spent the night in Coral Canyon before coming onto Vegas Tuesday.

Patty and I are both back to work for a few days before I have to be back in Salt Lake on Friday Feb. 18th to begin the Neupogen and Mozobil shot routine so I can begin Apheresis on Tuesday Feb 22nd again. While not being in a bubble, we have to be a little careful to stay away from sick people because I have to be healthy to go forward with the procedures when we get back to Salt Lake and not have to stop the process for that type of problem.

It is kind of weird right now, since last April when I was diagnosed, I am on less drugs than I have been on for several years. And the only drug I'm on daily is a blood thinner to keep the blood from clotting around the central line that is installed, other than that I have my blood pressure and OTC vitamins I take. It's strange and I'm not sure that my body isn't having a small amount of withdrawals from everything.

The weather is suppose to be very nice this weekend, so we will try to enjoy it before we have to go back to the cold again.

2/4/2011 Update on Cell Collection

Don't anyone fall off their chair, I know it's only been two days since the last blog but thought I'd share a little more about what has happened and what could happen the next few days.

I had my fourth collection of cells today, the numbers aren't coming in as high as the doctors were hoping, as I have mentioned before it takes about 5 million stem cells for one transplant and my total after today is about 4.3 million and the totals are dropping each day. I was called to go the the hospital to get another Mozobil shot tonight and will do the Apheresis collection tomorrow as planned, but after that there is a good chance that they will tell me to go away for some time period, could be 2 weeks to let the body regenerate and make more stem cells so that the next time around we can work to get the second 5 million stem cells. Don't know what this will do to the overall time period, but we are determined to go forward and they say it's not completely surprising as some people take even much longer.

This means we may be coming home for a week or two, but won't know until Monday or Tuesday of next week what our schedule will be.

Until later, hope everyone is well and happy.

2/2/2011 Did I mention that it's COLD!

Oh, did I say that it's cold up here, I know to you cold weather people you'll just think I'm being a baby, and maybe I am, but after most of my life in the desert of southwest Utah and Nevada, this is cold.

I had my second day of collection today, yesterday they collected about 1.3 million stem cells which sounds like a lot, but the number we are shooting for is at least 12 million and we were hoping for over 15 million that will provide some backup for me in the future, as we are told the typical transplant takes about 5 million cells. They like to take enough for two transplants, but we are hopefully going to get enough for 3.

Our day is pretty boring but it seems long, we have to be at the hospital about 8:00 am, they take labs, vitals and then I wait for the OK to get the Neupogen shots. After the Neupogen we talk to the Physician's Assistant about life and then head around the corner for the Apheresis room where I lay on a bed while they take my blood, circulate it through a machine and then give it back to me sans stem cells, this has been taking between 3-1/2 and 4 hours which gets us out of the hospital around 1:30 or 2:00, then after some lunch a small nap is in order then we watch a little TV and head back to the hospital at 6:00 pm for the Mozobil shot then usually by about 6:30 or 7:00 we're headed back to the condo for dinner. Then after a little TV or a Redbox Movie it's time for bed and we start all over again.

Oh, did I mention how cold it is up here. We'd like to break up the days with some walking around the Gateway or downtown, but it's been too cold and miserable for us desert dwellers to handle. We talked to Josh today and he said this cold goes clear down to Phoenix, that he didn't think it made it much past 40 down there today.

Until later, hope everyone is good and we are very appreciative of all the thoughts and prayers in our behalf.

1/31/2011 Treatments are going

Saturday and Sunday I went to the hospital each morning to get my Neupogen (corrected spelling) shot to stir up the stem cells in my system. Patty and Amanda met Cara on Saturday at the bridal fair and then on Sunday we took Amanda to the airport so she could fly back to Vegas. We took a ride out to the south end of the valley after we dropped her off. The visibility was pretty lousy because of the fog and haze that covered the valley since we made it up here. I had some minor side effects from the Neupogen on Saturday and then even less on Sunday - a little bone pain in my lower back, but not bad, I felt pretty good. On the weekends and after hours I go to the nurse's station and they take me through a back door into the BMT clinic where they give me the shots, the Neupogen is actually in two different shots, one in each arm.

Now comes Monday, it was kind of a Military day - hurry up and a lot of waiting to get things done. I got the Neupogen this morning around 8:00 am but had to get some labs done and wait for the white cell count to make sure it is in range. It was, so they gave me the shot, then I came back and picked up Patty and went back to the hospital to check in with Radiology to get my Central line or port placed today. So we checked in and sat there for about a half hour, then they came and got us and took us to the preparation/recovery room where they took vitals and got me ready to go. They must have been backed up because we waited to go in for the procedure for quite a while. As I understand it, they do the placement using a x-ray or sona-gram method that lets them see where and how the tubes are going in to make sure they don't get too close to the heart or they don't rip through the veins. I think I have actually 3 lines in me since that is how many connections are on my chest. I think I went through it pretty good, but feel like I've been beat up a little bit today. After I got out of the procedure, we had to stay in recovery for about an hour, then Patty brought me back to the condo.

At six o'clock pm we had to go back to the hospital to get the first of my Mozobil shots, I think it's another drug that helps stir up the the stem cells. Hope it works, we'll start to find out tomorrow as tomorrow morning after I get the Neupogen, I start the Apheresis process where they hook me up to the machine that takes my blood out, spins it around, keeps the stem cells and puts everything back into me, that's why I had to have more than one line put in the Central Line. Each day they will test the blood to see how many stem cells I donated and then make a determination if I need to have the Mozobil.

We'll let you know later in the week how I weathering the treatments, I hope they go well.

1/28/2011 Back in Salt Lake, The Treatment Begins

We left Vegas Wednesday afternoon, Amanda came with us to help get us up here and get us settled, she's going to fly back Sunday afternoon, we were happy to have her, she did a lot of driving and really helped us, thanks to Ryan for agreeing for her to come. It was pretty traumatic on her after having to leave the girls in Ryan's care. We should have taken some pictures of the packing job we had to do to get everything inside the Sante Fe for the trip, it was full.

We spent Wednesday night in Coral Canyon with Bruce and Cara, that was good, then I got up and went to my hearing doctor for an appointment, then we left around 10:30 and went out to say hello and good bye to mom and dad, they were down in Hurricane, then we hit the road. We also had the time to stop and say hi to Kim in Provo and got to see new baby Jessie, and Daniella. It was good to see Kim and her new baby, Jessie is a very good baby and still sleeps a lot but is growing and gaining the weight she needs to be doing right now. Kim looks really good after her pregnancy.

We met the real estate guy in the Gateway again and then went to the condo to sign the papers and to get the condo turned over to us. The girls spent the night putting things away and then we watched some TV and went to bed in preparation for our appointment this morning at LDS Hospital BMT (Bone Marrow Transplant) Clinic which is on the 8th floor of the hospital.

We got up this morning and left for the hospital, we found a Burger King on the ride there to get a little food in ll of our bellies. We checked in to the BMT and they took some more of my blood then we waited to meet with Dr. Hoda and with Cindy Nordling, my patient coordinator. Dr Hoda talked to us for quite a while and answered many of our questions about the timing and schedule of things that will be happening over the next couple of months. We went over my blood numbers and they were all very good, they all moved closer to where the doctors wanted them to be. It was a good meeting/appointment with him and we came away with more answers that we hadn't had before. Then we went back to the waiting room and spent some time talking to some other patients that have different cancers, it was interesting and a little weird to talk to them, but it was good and got to hear about other peoples experiences with their issues and with LDS Hospital. After my medicine came up to the floor they called me back and gave me the first day's shot of Nuepregen (not sure of spelling) which is the medicine that stirs up the stem cells and gets them to start heading out into the blood stream so we can start collecting them next week. I'll have the same shots on both Saturday and Sunday and again Monday morning, then on Monday Jan 31st they will do a little more to me, I'll talk about it later.

Then we went to Wally World to do some shopping and came back to the condo to eat lunch and relax and rest, I am very grateful for all the help and work that Patty and Amanda do for me every day and everything they (especially Patty) will be doing for me during the next few weeks.

1/24/2011 Back from Salt Lake Tests

We left for Salt Lake last Wednesday as I said in my previous blog. My meeting lasted a little longer than I had thought so by the time we got something to eat, we didn't leave Vegas until about 2:00, then we drove to Salt Lake, actually Bountiful, which is just north of Salt Lake since that is where we got our hotel room for the weekend. We used Hotwire to book the room since the rooms in Salt Lake all seemed to be either booked or much more expensive than they were last time we were in Salt Lake, it was a Country Inn and Suites and was a pretty nice place and served us well. In addition, 5th West in Bountiful is full of places to eat so that worked out well also.

We went to the LDS Hospital Thursday morning as we were suppose to and they began the first day of testing which included lots of blood tests, updating my information, an EKG and echo cardiogram and finished the day with a bone and bone marrow biopsy. We started about 11:00 am and got out around 5:00 pm. Then on Friday we went back for a couple more tests which included a pulmonary breathing test and some chest ex rays which didn't take much more than about an hour on Friday. This paragraph is short, but it was a pretty full day and a half of tests to get ready for the next step.

We then went back to our room for a while and then went down to the Gateway plaza to eat and wait around to look at places to stay while we are in Salt Lake. We ended up renting a furnished condo that is on the 10th floor of a building that backs up to the Gateway Plaza. It is completely furnished and includes utilities, TV and Internet and should be a good secure place for Patty to stay when she will be by herself when I am in my inpatient stage of treatment. We will meet the rental agent there about 6:30 this Thursday evening to get the keys and move in.

This Friday Jan. 28th I begin the next stage of treatment which will be the injection of medicine twice a day to get my stem cells stirred up and cycling through my blood system, then after about 4 to 6 days of that, they will begin the collection process which will separate the stem cells from my blood in a dialysis process and save them to be put back into me later in the inpatient part of the treatment.

Amanda is going up with us this week to help us get situated and ready to go for the processes, she will probably come up several times which will be good for Patty, especially while I am inpatient. I don't know what else to talk about at this time, I think I'm ready to proceed, but I have to admit I'm a little nervous for the different stages of the treatments that I will be having.

1/17/2011 The Next Step in our Journey

We found out last week that I'm heading for Salt Lake to begin the transplant treatment. We will be leaving this week to go to Salt Lake for a couple of days of tests this Thursday and Friday to confirm that everything is where the LDS Hospital doctors want them to be, then if everything stays on schedule we'll leave next Thursday Jan 27th to begin the collection process on the 28th.

I will be out patient for the first 7 - 10 days while they give my body the medicine to stir up the stem cells out of the bones so they can harvest them using a dialisis type machine to save them to put back into me later. Then I will be admitted for about 4 weeks to get heavy duty chemotherapy to knock out everything they can get, probably won't be fun, then after that they put my stem cells that they harvested back into me and we wait for them to grow and get me feeling better. When that happens and gets to the level they want, I go out patient again but have to stay in Salt Lake close to the hospital in case of complications or problems. That should be another 2 - 3 weeks. All told they said to expect to be in Salt Lake for about 8 weeks, we've heard of people doing it in less than that, but it doesn't really matter to us.

I've made it sound pretty simple, I'm sure it's a might more involved that I've put down here, but we'll have to keep you informed. Patty might be doing some of the blogs while I'm under the heave chemo, but we'll have to see how it affects me. I was hoping to go during a little warmer time of year so that Patty wouldn't be so trapped between the hospital and the place we will be renting during our stay. My immune system will be taking a huge hit, so we have to turn into bubble boy for a few weeks, otherwise we may have tried to impose on family during our time up there. We have to get somewhere that is self contained and can't share any common areas because of health issues.

I've got a meeting this Wednesday morning, after that we'll be hitting the road to head for Salt Lake and plan on returning this Saturday, then we'll see what they say and exactly when they will schedule us for the return trip. We'll keep everyone informed as soon as we know more.

I'm glad we're moving forward, can't say I'm excited about it, more like a little nervous, but looking forward to moving things forward towards remission. I finished my last Revlimid and Lovenox this weekend and am suffering through what might be my last Dex steroid Monday night/Tuesday morning of sleep problems tonight - thus the middle of the night blog, it's still Monday night for me even though this is posting early Tuesday morning. We're enjoying some good weather here in Vegas and hope to take some of it with us so it's maybe not quite as cold up there as it has been. We know January and February are always cold but we're really not looking forward to freezing our hind ends off for the next couple of months. We'll share more later.

1/10/2011 Just Checking In

Not too much going on, just decided to write a few words tonight. We are getting ready to head for St. George this Thursday and Friday to talk with Dr. Te about the last blood test results that I mentioned in the last blog. I also will be getting another Arida bone treatment to keep up with that part of the treatment protocol.

On Thursday I have a followup appointment with the hearing doctor to look at how my hearing aids are doing, they sure seem to be helping me hear a lot of sounds and voices that I have been missing for years to that is good. They are the type that fit behind my ears and run a small tube into the ear with the speaker so very few people even know they are there. I am getting pretty used to having things in my ears so I'm able to keep them in for nearly all the day.

We are almost done with our Holiday Season but have one more event this week before we can put it to rest for the year. It's Patty's birthday on Wednesday January 12th and we are going to take her out for her birthday dinner as soon as she decides where she wants to eat.

I'll try to make another post next week after we talk to Dr. Te to let everyone know any updates to any possible schedule we might have, until then we hope every one's new year is going well.

1/3/2011 Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone, hope you had a great Christmas and Holiday Season and didn't freeze to death. We had a great time with family and friends and really enjoyed ourselves. We enjoyed the yearly Dalton Family Christmas party that was held at mom and dad's house on New Year's Day. We were just counting and figured there were around 31 guests at the party with our Josh and Kim, Daniel, Daniella and new Jessie Rebecca being the only ones not in attendance, although I should up the count to 32 because Ralph came down and visited us for a quite a while. Here's to wishing all of you a great 2011, 2010 was a real up and down year for us, we had our challenges but we had some very good things (like Ryan and Amanda) happen to us this past year, we were very blessed in very many ways.

My next appointments are on the 13th and 14th of January but we got the numbers from the blood test taken on the 16th of December. The numbers are still moving in the right directions only maybe not as quickly as they used to, but moving just the same. The main number that was 1.45 last month dropped to 1.35 which was a slower drop but good anyway. And the IGG numbers that were 2100+ last month dropped to 2005 which again is a drop but a smaller one. We will talk to Dr. Te on January 14th to go over in detail. The good news is that my Kidneys are still working very well and the other test numbers are all good.

I am the second week of Round 6 of my Revlimid. I should also probably give an update on my hearing devices. On Dec. 30th we went to the Hearing Doctor and got fitted with hearing aids, I showed them to some of you at the Dalton party but not everyone. They are working very well and although it is taking some time to get use to having things in my ears all the time, I am starting to get use to them and use to hearing sounds that I haven't heard for years.

Again we wish all of you a Happy New Years for 2011 and hope good things for all of you in the coming year. As we find out new things, we'll keep you posted.