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.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, May 2, 2011
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.
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.
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