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We went to Baltimore today to consult with my myeloma physician. We received some unsettling news, tempered with a way forward. It seems that my bone marrow biopsy indicated that the level of disease in my marrow is too high for a stem cell transplant to have the best chance of success, at this time. Two of the chemotherapy drugs that I have been taking ( Revlimid and Velcade ) have, for some time, stopped working at controlling my disease. My physician advised that we shift to two newer, stronger medications ( Kyprolis and Pomalyst ). These medications are taken for three weeks and then off for a week. This is called a cycle. My stem cell transplant is now postponed until these new medications can get my myeloma more under control. This could mean two or three cycles, making my transplant more likely for mid to late November. Thank all who have read the blog and offered me their good thoughts. Daily updates to the blog are no longer needed. I will perhaps post monthly betwee

No new tests today, just one finding from my head CT: " Limited imaging through the brain is unremarkable".

The title above was one piece of advice we learned today at the Transplant Education Class. No, I don't have a mushroom farm. This season we don't even have tomato plants or basil. We do have a thriving fig tree. Of course, the title does brings to mind the comment about the workplace that is said to be like a mushroom farm: it keeps all involved in the dark and feeds them...Well, you know. In addition to the Education Class, I also had a physical. I've got to be healthy enough for the treatment to kill my immune system and restore it! We had a very good lunch at Bagby Pizza on Fleet Street in Fells Point, Baltimore. Too Much Information We learned that the chemotherapy drug cytoxan can have positive benefits by tricking a body into making a lot of stem cells. This process is called mobilization. Cytoxan is used along with the growth factor medicine Neupogen . Together they can sometimes cause short term pain in large bones. To relieve this pain, the allergy

We woke up early today for a trip to Baltimore. On my schedule were lab tests and a bone marrow biopsy. But it turns out there were no lab tests to get, so we got up earlier than we needed. The biopsy didn't happen until close to noon. All went well. Too Much Information: Under sedation, a hole was drilled into the back of my hipbone and a vacuum filled vial extracted the marrow, since, of course, nature abhors a vacuum. (Wait, a vacuum filled vial? What sense does that make? You can't fill a vial with a vacuum. I guess I should have written the vial  contains a vacuum, like the Container Store's slogan "Contain Yourself"). Luckily, I was sedated and felt little pain. I've had this done before without the sedation. I wouldn't recommend it. In either case.

The week of preparatory tests continued today, designed to make sure I am healthy enough to go through with the transplant. That's really all that happened today. For the Too Much Information Crowd, today's list of tests follows: It started a 8am with quick  CT-scans of my sinuses and my chest. Then a pulmonary function test . They sat me in a large clear plastic chamber and asked me to take the deepest breaths I could and then exhale as fully as I could while the technician shouted "Not yet, not yet, not yet, ok," much too slowly! Then it was on to a cardiac echo . This technician irritated me, because I irritated him, since I was unable to lie on my left side due to my healing(?) collarbone. Hey, we do what we can do! Next up was an EKG . This should have been quick, but the technician was a bit confused with a new machine she used and after my suggestion called in someone to help. She did have one very useful idea: she used alcohol wipes to remove the sti

Hello everyone.  This is Rose blogging for the first time.  Today we had a pleasant drive (I like sarcasm) downtown in a bunch of rain for Bob's Pet Scan .  No it's not about the cat.  Bob did not have any carbs for 24 hours and he was a bit cranky.  He says not-- but I was there.We are currently at home and eating lots of carbs (pound cake). All went well at test.

We know that many reading this blog either care or just wonder how I am doing with my stem cell transplant. We know that perhaps you may like to call and check on my progress, but realize we may not be available to take your calls. So we have prepared this blog to give, it is hoped, a day-by-day posting of how I am doing. I will try to do the posting myself every day. It will give me a focus, a goal, and help me summon the energy to do something productive. On the days I can't post, Rose will be doing the posting. The month of August is full of tests, education classes, diagnostic studies, biopsies, and a minor preparatory surgery. The stem cell transplant itself  will occur over three days, September 3-5. The infusion of my MILs (more on that below) will occur over two days, September 7 and 8. After that it will be months of monitoring, testing, and recovery. We expect to be living in hospital connected housing in Baltimore for 4 to 6 weeks starting around August 26. Then