Meet with the Big Guns Day, in other words, to find out the harvest protocol and go over the tests of the last few long weeks.
Get my central line, or Hickman Catheter, installed in the morning bright and 7 AM early.( i am NOT a morning person as some of you know...)
That will allow them to freely take and give my blood during the harvest, take/give blood samples and drugs painlessly and also to give me the Cytoxin chemo on Monday to start the mobilization of the stem cells. The Cytoxin will get the stem cells from the marrow and into the blood. 7 to 10 days later, they will use the Apheresis machine (centrifuge) to separate the cells and freeze and store them till I have recovered enough for the actual transplant on about the 19th of April.
Most of my blood work came back normal but the Myeloma cells are still there and rising a bit. Hence the chemo..to kill as many as possible before the reintroduction. 2 weeks off for my poor body to rest up and then the rest of the fun really begins.
All for now..gotta go drink my last Gatorade till tomorrow afternoon...
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The Hickman is your friend - it means they won't be having to stick needles in you all the time! I met my good friend Yvonne in June of 1985 when I was working in a hospital in Saudi Arabia. She was pushing an IV pole down the hallway, having just come out of isolation from her autologous bone marrow transplant. She had been through both chemo and total body radiation and autologous transplant was new then. 25 years later, she is living happily on a farm in Australia with her husband and two dogs. There's a lot more to the story, but wanted to give you that 25 years-plus to shoot for! We are rooting for you.
ReplyDeleteHi Daryl,
ReplyDeleteMy name is John Genet and just learned of your blog postings from a friend. We are roughly the same age (I just turned 52) and like you have been recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma. I was diagnosed on Jan. 28 of this year and that was comfirmed as multiple stage 3 on Feb 8.
Although the skeletal aspect of the disease has primarily effected my spinal column and ribs and it sounds like for you it's been more in the hips, everything else seems to be very similar, particularly the treatment.
Like you I have been on an initial treatment combination of Velcade and Dex with 3 week cycles (rounds) comprised of 2 weeks on (M and Th treatments) and one week off. And also like you, the current treatment is a precursor to more aggressive chemo and an Autologous stem cell transplant.
I am a little behind you in that I have just finished up week 2 of cycle 2 and am expecting the transplant to be sometime in June. As of now, my current treatment seems to have everything headed in a good direction and I feel very positive about the prospects of returning to the sort of active lifestyle that I've enjoyed for so long.
By the way, like you I ski though not as much as it sounds like you do. I live in Colorado Springs, CO and additionally enjoy trail running, cycling and rock climbing and fully expect to again enjoy all of these activities.
It sounds like you are headed into a very busy and important treatment stage now and I want you to know that I wish you all the best and am sending all the positive energy that I can out your way.
Please know that if you're ever so inclined I would really like to converse a bit regarding our respective situations. My e-mail address is jgenet@comcast.net. In the meantime, I wish you all the very best.
Best regards,
John
John...call me if you have any questions...email to daryl at aatransaxle dot com
ReplyDeleteGoing the the chemno was a piece of cake compared to the cytoin and soon to be Malphalan..If your healthy overall it will be a piece of cake..attitude is the biggest thing when youre laying awake on Dex nights and the brain cant shutup..making laps around teh house for hours..sucks and you should try Medrol instead of dex. Hope you see this
Like they say..Its darkest just before the dawn