a lump

I worked in Great Falls the 2nd and last weeks of March. I continue to enjoy working there, and will be sorry when this assignment ends in June (they're adding a new full time anesthesiologist in July). Winter weather persisted right to the end of the month. In fact the drive over on the 29th was probably the most challenging winter driving I've ever done. Nearly got trapped in a mountain pass blizzard. Backtracked 90 miles and got to Great Falls late that night.

Between the times at Great Falls we were visited in Sandpoint by Sarah and Ethan one weekend, and Burne and Robin the other. Got in lots of great skiing. The Comanche went in for its annual inspection on the 16th, and it wasn't finished until the 1st of April - so not much flying. It passed the inspection and, as I've always done each year, we made a few minor improvements. So each year this great airplane gets a little bit better.

Three days before the first week in Great Falls I discovered a hard, plum sized, lump in my upper right thigh. My suspicions were confirmed by a biopsy done by a local surgeon when I returned to Sandpoint: plasmacytoma - a collection of Myeloma cells outside the bone marrow. When I saw the Myeloma specialist in Seattle the next week I was relieved to learn that this altered neither the status of my disease nor the treatment. I started the new chemo, Revlimid, on Friday the 20th. So far, I seem to be tolerating it well. The numbness in the feet is a little worse, but I sleep better at night (Revlimid was derived from Thalidomide, the 1950's sedative that caused severe birth defects). At first I was somewhat alarmed by the lump, but, in a way, it's actually good to have something tangible. Up until now, with no physical manifestations of Myeloma, just numbers on a blood test, or atypical bone marrow cells under a microscope, the Myeloma has always seemed a little "unreal".
Optimist that I am, I sometimes am convinced that the lump is already getting a little smaller. Well, at least it's not getting bigger. A blood test of my IgA level in another week should give more definitive information. Two out of the six patients in the study I'm participating in have achieved complete remission (CR) on this drug, but it can take months to see the full effect.

On the 10th of April I will hit the Big 6-0! The 50's were challenging, to put it mildly. Mary Catherine is respecting my wish for quiet small observance. Instead of a party, I'm planning a three week cross country trip in the Comanche in May to the Southeast United States, with tentative stops at friends in Grand Junction CO, Birmingham AL, and possibly Georgia, and the wedding of the daughter of Sandpoint friends in Nashville TN on the 9th. It's a beautiful time to be in that part of the country. It will be a real once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Phil