The long and winding road...

Sometimes the journey becomes tedious. I am finding it so. <sigh>

I think the weather is a major culprit...that and the ice. I am afraid of falling so I do not venture out beyond the mailbox across the street. Sometimes I just stand on the front porch to get some fresh air. :) Another few weeks and hopefully the ice will be gone and I can get out walking. that will do me a world of good!!

I have not been feeling the greatest...there was a change in my protocol and I am no longer on high dose steroids 4 days on 4 days off. I now take steroids along with my chemo and Velcade one day a week. This was the first week so it may not be typical, but I found I was fine on Thursday (chemo day) and Friday but did not feel well Saturday, Sunday, and not so great again today. Since steroids provide some anti-nausea effects, maybe not being on as much steroid made my stomach feel a little more upset. I also have no appetite. (My fat cheeks are grateful...LOL) It is hard enough to find beverages that taste okay that are also not chock full of calories and sugar...so now to force myself to eat as well is a chore.

Since I weighed in last week at an all-time record high, I should be grateful that I am not as hungry now. :) Yes, I have gained back all the weight I lost on Jenny Craig two years ago. :( But I am happy I have the extra pounds for a buffer for times yet to come where I will be unable to eat well.

The doctors are very happy with my progress to date. One of the indicators of multiple myeloma is the level of immunoglobulin in your blood. These are proteins that normally fight infection. With MM, my bone marrow is making an imperfect immunoglobulin (Ig) of the Gamma variety...so my IgG levels were increasing -- which alerted the doctors to my condition initially. My levels did not ever reach 30, which is a tipping point of sorts. (There are several factors that determine the point that treatment is needed, and this is one of them). Before I started treatment I was around 27. Ideally, we need to get to 0 before my "harvest" but the goal is to be below 5. My IgG levels 2 weeks ago were at 7.95. :) This is really good progress considering I am only half way through my induction chemotherapy protocol. (Induction is the period where we try to reduce the cancer as much as possible leading up to harvest.)

I will get another more concentrated infusion of the same chemo I am currently on (cyclophosphamide) just before the neupogen shots begin. (Neupogen is the drug that stimulates my bone marrow to produce stem cells.) I will have 10 days of shots then will be ready for harvest.

After harvest I will have the melphalan chemotherapy (the really powerful stuff) that will kill all of my bone marrow (good and bad) and reset my immune system to that of a newborn baby.

I expect to have all of my dates for this later this week, but it looks like we are on track for the transplant to occur in early-mid May...meaning I will be home in early June. Approx 3 months after the transplant I will be able to lead a fairly normal life -- other than masking up when in public, and getting fatigued easily....so hopefully I will be able to visit with some of you then.

The journey is long, but I am plodding along.