My dear Blog Followers…

Do I have some information for you?!?!?

Last Friday (12-19) Debbie and I got up early and drove to Tulsa to meet with Dr. Lynch. He is a stem cell oncologist. I didn’t want to go, but I wanted to go too. Anyway, long story short, I am SO VERY happy we went to see him. He was the single most informative doctor I’ve dealt with in this entire process. I told him I didn’t know much about the multiple Myeloma and really didn’t understand all the ins and outs of the condition. He then started back at square-one and put us through Multiple Myeloma 101. Granted… I couldn’t pass a final over it, but I know more than I did.

First of all, the stem cells would be harvested from my own body. If I had an identical twin we could use his, but survival and rejection rates go to about 10% not making it. If the stem cells came from my daughter, for example, the success rate drops to 40%. Not good odds. So, all in all… I will be my own donor.

My T-Cells are the culprit. I have a single T-cell reading that was high when I was in the hospital. It was 1.6. After 2 rounds of chemo (Revlimid by pill), steroids, and radiation the last blood work was 0.6!! That means, without a doubt, that my body is responding to the treatments. Now, about the stem cells.

If… (notice the word “if”) I chose to do the stem cell transplant, and if it is medically needed, then we will pick a convenient time to have my life interrupted for 4 months. I will go over for a long day of all kinds of tests. They have to determine if I’m healthy enough for the transplant. There will be blood tests, liver tests, heart, lung, etc. Once they decide that I’m at near super-hero strength, then they will have me come back 2 weeks later (as I recall) for the harvesting of the cells. This will be the simplest of the procedures. I may have to be hospitalized for a few days, but once the harvest is complete, then they will send me home for about 2 months. Then the fun starts. I will go back to St. Francis and I will go inpatient for about 21 to 28 days. At the start of this hospital stay they will do a super dose of radiation and a super dose of chemo. When those two super doses are finished… I will have no immune system. They will basically kill off all my bone marrow. Then they will inject the harvested stem cells back into my system and let the next 3 to 4 weeks grow me a new immune system. I understand from other conversations with MM patients that they will give me my “childhood” shots all over again.

The reason they will keep me inpatient for those 21 to 28 days is because I will have no white blood cells (of any value) to fight disease and infection, and the platelets will be ‘gone’ so if I cut myself, I could bleed to death.

The reason I was so excited to go see Dr. Lynch is because I knew there were 4 treatment modalities; chemo, steroids, radiation and … stem cell. Well, I didn’t understand where the stem cell transplant fit into the grand scheme of things. He told me that if my body continued to respond to the Revlimid (chemo) my numbers could stay in the healthy range and I may never need the stem cells. But if I started having adverse reactions to the Revlimid then I may have to have the stem cell transplant as a stop gap in the treatment regimen.

So, all in all… I’m glad I went. I’m glad to find out that my T-cells are responding to the treatment.

Please continue to pray for me. Pray that I don’t feel wiped out all the time. I told Debbie yesterday that I felt like I had worked outside in the blazing summer heat all day. That zapped feeling is how I feel all the time. So… pray that I can get beyond this wiped out feeling. Prayer request #2 is to pray for Debbie. She has had a very stressful 4 months. With my health issues, surgery, treatments, and with her mom’s health issues and ultimate death, and other stressors, she can certainly use your prayers.

We are so thankful to serve a God that we know loves us even when we are unlovable.

Grace & Peace to you all.

Bob