Next BIG Step

Chris appreciates the care given by her oncologist.

Now it is time to prepare for the next steps in this journey against MM. 

Here is what we learned at a consultation that we had at the Bone Marrow Transplantation folks at the LDS Hospital:

• Finish current week of RVD treatment.
• Be off of treatments for two weeks.
• Assess readiness for BMT.
• Get injections to promote red cell production.
• Start harvest of immature red blood cells (stem cells). This will take 2-5 days of 4 hour sessions of running blood through the machine that collects them.
• After a couple of weeks be admitted to the LDS Hospital and receive a high-dose of melphalan chemo therapy over two days. 
• Get a transplantation of her stem cells.
• Remain in the hospital for 3 to 4 weeks for recovery.

Chris says she is ready and is a fighter!!!

Chris's Favorite Things

Going out to breakfast.

Watching Chuck on Netflix with Gary.

Getting emails from her sisters. 

Sneaking out of the clinic before getting her chemo shot.  They called Gary just as they were getting in the car to leave.

Good blood test results showing that the treatments are working!

Happenings - Past and Future

A lot has transpired since mid November and I will try to provide some things of interest.

First off, the chemo therapy that Chris has been receiving is working! Here is an immunology results chart from November 19th that shows where she is at:

The IgG count that is at 1816 was around 9000 when Chris was first diagnosed with the cancer. The M-Spike was about 4 times as high also. They want to get the M-Spike as close to 0 as possible.

We had a nice trip to St. George for Thanksgiving. We had all of our family together to celebrate and remember all the blessing that we have.

Chris is suffering from some kind of what we think is chemo brain. However, we know that it is not a permanent thing because the day after Thanksgiving we had a totally normal Chris with us for the day. 

She took a couple of weeks off of chemo to see if things improved and they somewhat have. She is more alert all day long but has increased confusion as the day wears on.

She restarted her chemo yesterday and will be on it for another 14 days. 

We had a visit last week with a neurologist. He changed one of her daily meds and scheduled her for a 'sleep deprived' EEG for tomorrow morning. She doesn't get to sleep until it is over.

We will go get our first consultation on a potential bone marrow transplant on Monday. 

We are even having a bit of fun outside the house. On Friday, we went out to IHOP for breakfast.

Duly Chastised

We have been informed by several friends and family that we have not posted anything on the blog for a while. We will repent and do better. I will post more detail tomorrow.

Others are doing so much for us in the way of meals, cards, and sitting with Chris.

Thank you to the good sisters of the ward for their help. Below was a sweet visit:

A Day Out Haircut and a Pedicure

Small Comforts Make a Difference

Feeling a lot better this morning! Ate a good breakfast and drinking lots of water.

Small Comforts also help.

Doing Much Better

Chris is doing much better this morning. She is eating, smiled at me, watching tv and making comments on what she is watching. :-)

Back in the Hospital

Made a trip back to the hospital last night for an MRI to find out what is causing Chris to become lethargic and withdrawn.  They don't believe it has to do with the cancer or chemo.

From the 9th floor.

40th Anniversary of Knowing Each Other

We went on our first date 40 years ago today.   Celebrated by taking a ride up to Brighton.

Good Advise

Saw this hanging in one of the many medical facilities we visited. The link to the article is below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/fashion/what-to-say-to-someone-whos-sick-this-life.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Here We Go ... Second Round

Looking Forward to This Week

This is my "off" week coming up. No chemo or office visits for a week... Yay!!!

Fun  by the fire with Gary. Thanks kids for the fire pit! 

Relaxing After a Four-week Whirlwind

The past almost four weeks have been a whirlwind of care facilities, doctors, nurses, care providers, tests, and needles. Here is a rundown:

• Visit to Instacare for nausea
• Trip to to ER because of a cough and extreme weakness
• Blood tests ... very anemic
• Blood infusion (2 units)
• Admission to the hospital
• CT scan to determine that I had pneumonia
• More blood tests
• More blood
• Scope to look for internal bleeding
• Bone marrow biopsy
• Cancer diagnosis
• More blood
• Full body bone x-rays ... wahoo no holes!
• Blood tests
• Home healthcare visit
• Utah Cancer Specialists initial visit
• Primary care doc visit
• Pain doctor visit for back injury
• Dentist
• Chemo class
• Zoo - this was a fun outing with my girls
• Chemo treatment
• Pain doc
• More blood (2 more units)
• Epidural lumbar steroid injection
• And last but not least - Chemo injection #2

Chemo Day 1

The journey begins!

After being diagnosed with multiple myeloma a few weeks ago the regiment of chemo therapy begins today.

This will include shots two days per week and oral medications every day for two weeks and one week off for several months.

The chemo therapy will lower my immune system and so I will limit my exposure to the bad bugs by not taking in visitors or continuing teaching preschool. My Rachelle will take over for the rest of the school year.