Near complete remission

So Dad got great news this week. His counts are so low that they consider him to be in near complete remission. Complete remission would have been if his counts were zero, but they are 0.5 right now. He was absolutely thrilled, as were the rest of us. Now he needs to stay on maintenance therapy, the pill form of therapy he has been taking. The bone marrow specialist doesn't want to see him for another 9 months. Dr. Kazhdan will be following with him, though not as frequently as before. He also met with the back specialist, who looked at the most recent studies of dad's back. His back bone has healed nicely on its own and he won't need to have surgery or resin placed in his bones to strengthen them. He also has been signed off by the pain specialist as well. Everything is going great! We are all so thankful for the prayers and thoughts that all of you have extended towards Dad. He is such a strong man, but was made even stronger by all of your thoughts and prayers.

No news is good news

So Dad as recovered nicely from the stem cell transplant. He had some time where is appetite wasn't great, but that is back and so is his strength. He has spent the last 2 months at work and doing physical therapy. At this point he is on maintenance chemotherapy just in case the stem cell transplant didn't do what we hoped. In late August they will repeat his labs to see if he is in remission. In the meantime, he has met with the back surgeon, who doesn't recommend fixing the fractured vertebrae quite yet. We are waiting for his bones to get stronger before they go that route. His ticker is doing fantastic! Just waiting for his hair to slowly grow back. He shaved it when he was in the hospital, and now he has fuzz growing. Thanks so much for the support.....we posted new pictures, one before the transplant and the pictures from the Canthera 1 yr birthday celebration party with his oncologist.

Finally home

So after several days in the hospital, lots of blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, antibiotics and medications to boost his WBC production Dad is finally back home.

During his hospital stay they were closely monitoring his labs and he was significantly anemic and his clotting factors were very low. This was to be expected from the chemo wiping out all of his bone marrow, where all of his blood cells are produced. He got several blood transfusions, platelet transfusions and close monitoring of all his labs. His blood culture did show that there was a bacteria growing, which means that there was bacteria in his blood stream (not a good thing), but it only grew from one culture and was likely a contaminant when they drew the sample. Just in case, they did treat him with several different antibiotics.

His main complaint, other than his stomach problems, was his extreme exhaustion. Dad got very poor sleep during his time in the hospital. Between trips to the bathroom, the brief moments of sleep he was able to get were not restful. For some reason Dad was talking in his sleep and acting out his dreams. Normally, during the dream cycle of sleep your body is mostly paralyzed, so you don't talk or move. Dad was talking and moving. This was so distracting to him that it would wake him up making his sleep very restless. During the days he would try to sleep while he could, but again the same problem happened. He would tell jokes, sing, gamble in vegas and talk budgets during his dreams. Sounds like him, he just didn't want it to affect him so that he would wake up. He had this problem after he had his bypass from the anesthesia they gave him, so now that he is back home we are hoping things go back to normal.

He only has one more daily visit to the clinic to have his labs checked, then he will be able to space it out a little more. The great news is that his blood cells are responding to the neupogen (the medicine to boost his infection fighters) and it seems that the stem cells are starting to do their job. His labs are staying stable and slowly getting better every day.

Dad wants to thank everyone for the constant prayers. He had some phone trouble in the hospital, so wasn't able to make or receive any calls for a short time. But for those who were trying to reach him, thank you for your kind thoughts and well wishes! Keep him in your prayers daily, each day we get closer and closer to D Day (+100 days).

Getting some blood and still run down

Dad is still having problems with his energy and his stomach. This morning, Dad was getting some blood, and they weren't sure if he would need to have one or 2 more transfusions. He is still getting Imodium, which is really working. Dad got little sleep last night, so they gave him something to help him sleep, except now he talks in his sleep and doesn't make any sense. Mom is concerned because he had such a bad reaction last time he was hospitalized with sedation. She talked with the oncologist and they agreed he would get Tylenol for pain or headaches and would not give him anything for sleep if they could avoid it. Dad still isn't hungry- which makes him very weak. No plans to discharge him home today.

Readmitted to the hospital

The last several days Dad still hasn't been feeling very energetic. His appetite is down, but thankfully he drinks Ensure or Boost to help support his calories. His WBC (infection fighters) is the lowest is has been. Yesterday, dad starting having diarrhea. This morning he went for his daily visit and labs. The bad news is that he had a fever and zero energy. Because of this he was readmitted to the hospital today. They are giving him IV fluids to help hydrate him from all the water loss from the diarrhea. He is also getting antibiotics to fight whatever infection he might have. He is finally getting some rest, since he didn't sleep well last night. They are hoping to possibly discharge him tomorrow night, but I am not counting my chickens yet. I anticipate he will be there for a couple of days before they send him home. Pray for a speedy recovery!

Just feeling a little run down

So every morning Dad has gone to the oncology clinic for follow up labs. These last several days he has been feeling very nauseated. Thankfully, they gave him some nausea medicine when he first started treatment, which he is taking and they give him IV medication at the clinic. He is very tired, and a little run down. He really doesn't have much energy and you can hear it in his voice. He hasn't been interested in eating when he feels so nauseated. So instead, to make the most of his calories, he has been drinking ensure and boost. Yesterday Dad had to get IV fluids to help hydrate him. Today they gave him steroids to boost his appetite and energy level. He sounded like he had more pep to his step this afternoon, a welcome change to what I've heard of him lately. The good thing is that the nausea lasts 7-10 days, so hopefully we are nearing the end of this. Late this week they will start Neupogen on Dad to boost his white blood cell production. As to be expected, his WBC count is still low- making him at risk for infection. Mom has taken such good care of him though, constantly vigilant of washing hands, cleaning everything and having his swish and spit to keep his mouth free of infections or sores. Fore the time being, Dad goes to the clinic then comes home to rest. Hopefully this time will allow his body to fight the cancer into remission. Keep your prayers strong!

And in a flash.....he was DONE!

Monday morning, dad was admitted to the hospital as planned. They have him his chemo around 11, as well as some Ativan to take the edge off his nervousness. The ativan works so well, he doesn't even remember if he ate dinner. Tuesday, again chemo at 11 and hanging out in his hospital room.

Finally, THE day has come! He got his stem cells around 11 am, by 11:15 he was DONE! He is now back of at home and is feeling great! Tomorrow starts the daily return to the hospital for checkups. I told him the goal was to stay HEALTHY! Thank goodness we are finally done. Pray for healthy days to come in the future. If he gets sick as part of the side effects of chemo, he will have to go back to the hospital.

Plan for Monday

So Dad had a follow up appointment yesterday and they decided to give his body a little more time to fully recover. So the plan is for admission on Monday, for chemo x 2 days and then stem cell on Wednesday. He feels great, just ready to get things going. Hopefully we won't have any more setbacks and we can get this thing into remission.

Probably an infection, no stem cell for now.

Dad had his IV antibiotics last night and then was sent home around 11:30 PM.

Dad went to the hospital this morning, they said his labs looked like an infection was brewing somewhere, which mean IV antibiotics and oral antibiotics. This means no chemo today, they don't want to wipe out his infection fighting ability before he is free of infection. They will reassess on Wednesday to decide when he gets his stem cell transplant.

Unexpected trip to the hospital

So Dad has been enjoying himself these last several days prior to the big day and event coming up. Today, Dad said we woke up with some chest pain because he was sleeping on his side so his back was hurting. Then they went to breakfast and church. After church they hit a movie. On the way down, Dad started to feel light headed, so he sat down to catch his breath. Then they got him home to eat something, check his blood pressure and his blood sugar. He still wasn't feeling quite himself so he went to lie down, when he noticed he was feeling a bit warm. When he checked his temperature, it was 101. He called his oncologist who told him to go to the hospital to get a chest xray. He might have to be admitted tonight instead of tomorrow. By the time they got their things gathered, his temperature was down to 100. With his fever, there is a good chance he will not be able to have chemo tomorrow. I will keep you updated as I get more information.

Delay in transplant....

So today Dad went in for his usual harvest. Except as usual, Dad's port was not very cooperative. Despite all their efforts, they weren't able to get the port to draw. So instead they had to put in a line with local anesthesia in his neck into one of the very large neck veins. They were able to get blood from that line, the only problem is that his stem cell count was significantly lower than yesterday and wasn't enough to harvest. Stem cells are very smart and know that they are suppose to hang out in the bones. So Dad has to go tonight to get a shot that will "knock" the stem cells loose so that they can harvest them tomorrow. With this delay, they have pushed back his transplant to next week. So Monday the 4th he will be admitted to the hospital for chemo on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday he will get his transplant.

Dad will be accepting prayers and emails but during this crucial time, he will not be able to have ANY visitors. The chemo will kill all of his cells, the myeloma cells and his white blood cells that will fight any infection. This makes him very susceptible to any minor infection or virus. With all that is in the news, we have to take special precautions that Dad stays healthy until his body starts producing white blood cells again.

Time for the harvest

Well everyone, the time has come!!! Dad's stem cell transplant has arrived!

Over the last month dad has become quite self reliant! He has been driving to and from work and doctor's appointments. He is now able to walk without his brace and cane. Physical therapy has been working him really well, so his strength is improving. He had his second port placed so that they could harvest his stem cells. He has been taking neupogen shots to boost his stem cell production over the last several days. Today they did the first part of his harvest, tomorrow they will finish the stem cell harvest. On Wednesday Dad will be admitted to the hospital for his high dose chemo. He won't feel too great with this, but thankfully it is only 2 days worth of chemo. Then on Friday, May 1st he will get his transplant! Friday will be considered Day 0, then the count starts Day +1. We are all very positive that day will soar through this without any issues. Everyone keep dad in your prayers as he completes the last part of this incredible journey to recovery!

I will post new pictures tomorrow of Dad looking better than ever.

So what's new?

Everyone has been wondering, what's new in Dad's world. Well, not much! After his bypass, he recovered, probably a little slower than he was expecting. He did lose some weight, but his energy and appetite returned back to normal. We are now 8 weeks since his last chemo and Dr. Kazhdan is getting a little nervous. He still goes for his monthly bone medication. But now Dad won't have his stem cell transplant until April. So in the meantime, Dad will have partial therapy to make sure we have the myeloma in check. Dr. K also wants him to be rid of his security blanket--the walker. Dad is able to walk well enough on his own that he just need to use a cane for support. So being the model patient, he is following Doctor's orders and is trying to rid himself of the walker. Dad spends his days to and from work with the occasional Dr's visit thrown in the mix. There are still a few tests and procedures we need to get done before he has his transplant. One of them will be having a special port placed so they can harvest his stem cells. This is a quick procedure, just like his medport they placed for his chemo. It was over by the time dad asked if they were going to start soon. The actual transplant itself will involve some blood filtering, like he's giving blood. They will collect all the stem cells, give him back his blood. Then he gets heavy chemo and they give him his stem cells back. We are all anxious to have this chapter of our lives over. Once the transplant is done, it will be a 100 day count to determine if he is fully in remission. This will put us in August, one year exactly from his diagnosis with myeloma.

It is so strange to think it will be a year, one that Dad doesn't want to repeat. But we have been so thankful for all the prayers and support.

Bypass done, Dad's home

Sorry for the delay...it was such an exciting and busy few days I completely forgot I hadn't posted how Dad's bypass went.

Wednesday morning we all got to the hospital very early to spend some time with Dad before surgery. He was scheduled for 7:30, and we were told they would take him to the OR for prepping around 6 AM. Well, they didn't actually take him until closer to 7AM. Then we waited until 8AM when the surgeon finally came. We all said a prayer, gave hugs and kisses and went to the waiting room to wait. They told us they would keep us updated every hour. At 9AM we got a little anxious since we hadn't heard from them. They called a little after 9 to let us know they just got started at 5 till nine. 10AM came and they were done with the robotic portion of the procedure and the surgeon was sewing the vessel in place. At 1040 we got a call they were done and to go the the waiting room outside the ICU, they were transferring Dad there for recovery. The surgeon said everything went very well, Dad was awake and doing good. We were able to go see him, the breathing tube was out. He did have several new tubes, one of them a line going into one of the large vessels in his neck and a chest tube that was taking out any blood that had oozed or any air from the surgery. He gave the thumbs up and we left so he could get some rest. The remaining part of the day he tried to rest while we visited briefly.

Thursday all of the tubes came out. Dad was feeling a little short of breath so they put him on some oxygen overnight. They moved him from the ICU, or should I say, he moved himself. He walked from his ICU bed to his new room down the hall in the step down unit. Friday morning they took him off the oxygen. He was hoping to be discharged on Friday, but no such luck. Instead he worked with physical therapy, met with the dietician and worked on his breathing exercises. Today they gave him his walking papers. He is home again and looking great. The incision in around 3 inches long sealed up with dermabond, which is like superglue for the skin. He has a small stitch still in place where the chest tube was, that will be removed this week.

Thank you all for the prayers and support while Dad was in the hospital and in surgery.

Angiogram done

Dad has his angiogram this morning to look at his arteries. They wanted to make sure nothing changed since last May. He had IV fluids this morning, then they took him to the cath lab. He was gone for less than an hour and the end result is the same. It looks virtually unchanged from the last angiogram. There was a small change in one of the vessels, but when he compared the two studies, it was the same. We were waiting to hear from the surgeon to see if he would correct this one too. He will stay overnight in the hospital, then early tomorrow morning they will take him for his bypass. They think this will be around 6AM to get him prepped.

Keep dad in your prayers.

Its a date

So Dad got work from the surgeon for his bypass. On Tuesday Feb 17th, Dad will have an bolus of IV fluids to prepare him for the contrast they need to give. Then he will have an angiogram--which takes a picture of the vessels feeding his heart to make sure there are no new blockages. If everything looks good, then he will have his bypass on the 18th at 0730. The surgeon is ready with his team at Dad's usual hospital to do the bypass. Remember, this bypass is non-invasive, meaning Dad will not go on the bypass pump, they won't have to cut his breastbone and pull his chest open. They will make a small incision between the ribs and with fiberoptic/robotic scopes they will perform the procedure. The reason for this is the faster recovery time with the least invasive measure necessary. The surgeon wants for Dad to wait at least 4-6 weeks to make sure he is fully recovered before he has his transplant. Then we go in with the big guns to knock this myeloma into remission.

In the meantime, Dad has stayed busy at work, spending most of his time at the main branch. He visits the satellite stores twice a week. Inventory went well...always a busy time. He loves being at work, motivating the staff and handling business. It was frustrating for him to coach from the sidelines while he was working remotely from home. For the time being, keep sending encouraging thoughts and prayers and be thinking of Dad in around 2 weeks.

Wonderful news and sad news.

Dr. Kazhdan is back from her much deserved vacation, and apparently quite tan! She had wonderful news for dad---all of his labs look great. She didn't have the comparisons ready, but was very optimistic and pleased with the results that were available. She is such a worrier--she told Dad that she wanted to call him while she was on vacation just to check on him. She just can't help herself. In the meantime, the boutique is having separation anxiety from Dad. He went a whole week without any visits, labs or followups. For now, they will just monitor Dad monthly to give him his bone strengthening medication. In the meantime, the cardiologist, surgeon and lung specialists are following with him this week.

We did get some sad news. While undergoing treatment, we have made some wonderful friends also undergoing treatment at the boutique. The ladies we have met are wonderful kind hearted individuals and have been such a welcome relief for us all while Dad gets chemo. Sadly, we lost one of them last week. She was a wonderful lady with a beautiful smile. Unfortunately making friends in an oncologists office comes with its fair share of heart ache. We were all saddened to hear she lost her battle to cancer. Our thoughts and prayers go to her husband and family.

One of dad's other friends from chemo is also getting sick. We are thinking and praying for her and her family.

Most surprising, a member of Dad's cancer team was just diagnosed with cancer. The shock of it all is too much to bear. E if you read this....we love you and are praying for you daily. You have been such a blessing to us as we have struggled through this journey and to hear that you are starting this journey when you have helped so many is very upsetting. The positive thing is that we are praying for you and we have seen the power of prayer work on Dad. I am posting this so that all of our family and friends can include you in their prayers. I know you will get through this, but just know we are thinking of you.

I guess everyone needs a vacation...

So Dad's staging labs were drawn last week. The only thing is that Dr. Kazhdan is on VACATION! At least someone gets a vacation. She is getting a much deserved and needed week off in Cancun. In the meantime we will have to wait to hear about Dad's staging.

The weather in San Antonio has changed. A huge cold front came through yesterday. Dad made it to work on Monday and was going in on Tuesday except for the cold front. With the sudden drop in temperature from the 80s to the 40s Dad thought it would be better to stay indoors. I don't think his joints tolerate sudden changes in temperature. The last time his gout flared on him there was a cold front. So instead Dad had to settle for having a conference call and sending emails from home. When we talked yesterday he was frustrated with the cardiologist's office. They have drawn lipid (AKA fat) levels on his blood several times. Each time, they told dad that the labs weren't done or weren't sent. One time...no problem, but now this has happened more than once making Dad very frustrated.

I talked with Dad this morning before he went to work. He said he had a good night, which makes me relieved. I was worried his knee would swell and cause him pain, but thankfully no. Hopefully when Dr. Kazhdan gets back we will have some great news! In the meantime Dr. K----enjoy the sun!!

Just a little trip to the ER

Monday Dad spent the morning at the office. He had meetings and went to lunch. The strain on his back was tiring, especially with the trips up to the 2nd floor where is office is located. Tuesday evening he had some heartburn.....something which alarmed Mom since he had a pretty mild dinner. The last time dad was complaining of heartburn he had his heart attack. Wednesday morning at 2 AM they went to the hospital since he was having some bad chest pain on his left. They gave dad 3 doses of Nitro, ran labs and everything looked good. Just to be safe they kept him until Wednesday night so that they could follow serial labs and make sure his heart looked okay. He went home Wednesday night.

Thursday he had some pain in his knee again. Dad was worried his gout was flaring up. They did give him a shot in his knee to help with the pain. Turns out it wasn't gout but bursitis- just some irritation to the joint. When I talked with Dad this morning, he was still having some pain but was otherwise okay. We should find out the results of his latest staging labs for the myeloma. They drew them this week so that we could see just how much Dad's levels improved. We are all confident and hopeful that his M spike is down! Pray!!

Just another long day at the office....

Dad has done really well these last few days. Today he went to the office, and actually made it up the stairs to HIS office! He used the cane and took it one step at a time, but he did it. I could hear in his voice the enthusiasm of getting back to work. It has been hard for him to work from home and by phone. He loves being able to walk the stores, spend time talking with the troops and welcoming customers. He's been able to do these things briefly, but today he was able to be there for most of the day. We'll see in the morning how much pain he will be in, but he said it sure felt good being back.



Friday is his last dose of chemo...everything so far has gone really well. The date for the bypass will be confirmed the first week of February. In the meantime, it looks like it will be on Feb 12th. We just have to make sure that it works for the surgeon.

Keep praying, we are almost done with chemo for now. Now we can finally concentrate on healing the rest of dad!

Lots of doctor's visits, so little time.

This week has been a long, doctor's visit filled week. Dad finished his antibiotics on Monday and then started chemo again. In the meantime he has been in and out of different doctor's offices. The infectious disease doc wanted to see him again- nothing new to report. The neurologist wanted to see him to talk about his numbness and tingling in his legs and feet. It isn't nerve compression- but because of the Velcade he's getting. They are also tentatively scheduling his bypass for Feb 12th. Then that should put his transplant 4-6 weeks after this.

Today he had the second of 4 doses of this last round of chemo. Everything again went well. As long as we can get through this last round without any complications or infections, we should be able to proceed with the bypass.

In the meantime, they are trying to manage the intermittent pain Dad is experiencing with as little pain medication as possible. If it gets any worse, they are talking of adding a new medication- cymbalta. Most of you have seen the TV ad's for depression, but they also use it as an adjunct pain medication. Hopefully they won't have to go to this, one less pill to take, but if so they at least have a game plan.