WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010 4:18 PM, CDT
Well,
Linda and I went up to Rochester Monday for my second monthly checkup and review. I had bloodwork Tuesday morning and consultation with my doctor late Tuesday afternoon. The first thing she said after "Hello" was that I no longer had an M-Spike! That was great news. That means the drugs are working and I am back in remission.
She cut back on my prednisone so now maybe I can sleep over the weekends. In the future, she will most likely cut back on the Pomalidomide (the clinical trial drug) which should cut back the fatigue and other side effects. In the meantime, I am thrilled to have the side effects for something that has worked so well against the cancer. In effect, it reduced the cancer from a fairly high level to undetectable in 2 months.
Now I will just count on a long remission.
Thanks once again for your prayers and support. The support of family and friends has been instrumental in my handling of this disease and I am thankful for the relationship I have with each and every one of you.
God Bless,
Paul
THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2010 7:43 PM, CDT
Wow, hard to believe it has been so long since we updated Paul's journal. Much has happened since December. Paul's "numbers" have continued to increase showing progression of disease. We held off on treatment, but we are now at Mayo Clinic enrolling him in a clinical trial.
He switched to Dr. Hayman, a Mayo clinic myeloma specialist, as his primary oncologist in March. Since that time he has also found a new oncologist in Kansas City. His KC oncologist was recommended by several myeloma patients that we knew through the support group and friends. Since December, Paul has been getting monthly labs. His numbers took a jump in March and then another big jump in May. After talking to his Mayo doctor last weekend about a clinical trial at Mayo, on Wednesday they, scheduled appointments and we got here last night. The trial is with the next "generation" of the drug that he was on prior to his 2008 transplant. He had a good response to that drug, so we decided this was the right thing to do. We met with his doctor this morning and he had several tests. We met with her again this afternoon. All that is left is the dreaded bone marrow biopsy, but at least at Mayo they put you out for it if you want. So the biopsy is tomorrow morning and then we will meet with the clinical trial coordinator to get the drug....and we're off to the races. Hopefully he will have a great response to this new drug with minimal side effects.
We are thankful that he has had two years without treatment and a great quality of life. We knew that it would be temporary, and we are ready to take the step in the journey.
At Paul's quarterly appointment in October, we were told that his myeloma "numbers" were trending up. We were told not to wait another three months for the next appointment, so Paul scheduled labs and appointment for December. We met with his new physician yesterday. His numbers are still trending up; however, it was decided to continue monitoring closely and to hold off treatment until the numbers worsened or he became symptomatic. He still feels great and was told to enjoy life, which he is doing. He is currently planning our next vacation; probably a driving trip through the southwest to the coast next spring. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. Linda Walker.
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