A Setback

Unfortunately things did not turn out well at my 9 month evaluation. A blood test on Monday revealed an elevated IgA (the type of protein produced by my Myeloma) and the Bone Marrow when viewed on Wednesday confirmed definite early recurrence. In retrospect, those "few lambda staining cells" that had me worried (January 30th Post: "We all Live in Limbo") were probably an earlier indication of this.
Needless to say it was a kick in the teeth for me, and everyone close to me. I think we were all pretty convinced I had beat this! Even in my less optimistic moments I had expected to get at least a year or two out of the transplant. Well, I guess not!
On Thursday I met with Dr. Bishop. He has an aggresive plan to hopefully "nip this in the bud". First I will undergo two courses of Velcade and Decadron. I was on Velcade prior to entering the NIH protocol. My Myeloma was very responsive to it and I tolerated it well. After that, with my myeloma then at a presumably minimal level, they will give me a Donor Lymphocyte Infusion (DLI) - lymphocytes taken from my sister Nancy - on June 22nd. This is a commonly used technique to get relapsed stem cell transplant patients back into remission. I was told: "30-50% success rate, the majority of which are longterm". Downside: "50% chance of Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD)". That's the plan. I'm reasonably optimistic it will work, but I'm a little more sanguine now.

Since the Velcade is given over a two week period once a month, and there's some flexibility, we plan to procede with the trip to France - I'll complete the first course before we leave, and start the second immediately upon our return. However, this turn of events has made us reconsider the Australia trip in August. With things now somewhat up in the air, we've decided to cancel that trip. I don't want to miss any part of another summer in Sandpoint.

I feel well, so I'm still hoping to resume some part time work in June. To get my credentials up to date at the Hospital I'm completing an ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) recertification course this week, and next weekend I'll attend a 3 day intensive workshop on Difficult Airways in Las Vegas. That should keep my mind occupied!

Mary Catherine seems to be handling it well. Right now she's making jambalaya and a special chocolate cake for my belated birthday celebration this evening with friends (Fisher's) coming up from Moscow. I still have much to be grateful for.