We have seen back to school. We have seen Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie. We keep waiting to see changes in Bob. Changes for the positive. Changes that show the cancer has been kicked in the butt. Sadly those changes haven't come.
The months fly by--from one appointment to another, from one treatment to another, from one delay to another. The days often all seem to be the same and blur together.
Bob should be moving to receiving the daratumab once a month. However he is still taking pomalyst 3 weeks on, 1 week off. This sounds like it will change as his graph that follows the protein chain continues to go up. Bob has had the setback 2x on having a PET scan done. The next one is scheduled for Oct. 26. The docs need to have a look at what is going on in the bones. What is causing the pain that we can't seem to overcome. The PET scans that didn't happen were crazy flukes on our part. I think hmmmmm why the delay????? There is a reason for everything!!!!
Bob has been to the pain clinic and those doctors and nurses are now in charge of trying to deal with the pain. We haven't settled on a solution yet----totally--- but are working toward one. We are able to reach them easily by phone if we need to talk to them.
Dr. Bahlis is thinking of taking Bob off of the pomalyst and using another chemo drug. Dr. Bahlis wants Bob to even out at the lowest level possible with the daratumab. The research of using this new drug, daratumab, is showing our doctors that it may work best as the first course of treatment with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients. Yeah~~~~Bob is part of important research.
Today, he is sleeping. I can hear him so it is all good. ;-} Bob has a sleep apnea machine. We got it on Friday. He has tried three different nose pieces but can't seem to sleep with it on. We rent it for 30 days so will see what will happen with that or if we just give it back. These machines are very quiet. I don't hear it at all DUH mostly not on!!!!!!! Bob tells me I need to use it. REALLY !!! hmm. Well, maybe I will give it a go.
Bob is still receiving a pay check from Exploron Corp. They were going to come up with a plan since the staff at the house still wants to phone him for info etc. We aren't sure what the plan will be or if there will be one but they have been more than amazing to us and we will be forever grateful. God has used the owner and staff to bless us abundantly over these years.
We made a trip to Niagara Falls over Thanksgiving. Bob had some concerns for his dad and so we made plans to go. This was over a week that was free from most everything. After we made the plans and had dates etc. booked; dad was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and spots on the liver and the cancer was in some lymph nodes. This was so devastating to dad and Reta. We were able to help them out some and were there to help with dad's move home to their apartment. Today he was to receive the first radiation treatment. The hope is to shrink the tumor so the bowel does not become blocked. Dad is 93 and Reta is on the other side of 89. They are fighting hard to keep on keeping on. Dad and Reta celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at the end of Sept. That fact, alone, is amazing for them.
Bob handled the trip better than we though he would. We are grateful for that. He is my hero. He never complained about the pain while we were away. We did cross one thing off of our bucket list!!! (even tho we don't truly have one). However many of our friends do. We took the helicopter ride over the falls and rapids and the general area. It was very neat. The two of us sat in the front too!!! which was special. Making the right hand turn as we leaned hard toward the door was ok. Perhaps a bit unnerving for the person sitting next to the door. HINT--it wasn't Bob.
So as this year continues to fly on by we will hang on tight to each other and to Jesus. The peace that comes from Jesus truly does transcend all our understanding.
PS
excuse all my different spellings and punctuation. The spell check checked out and the punctuation check said ah ya yi and left it at that. This disclaimer is for my teacher friend!!!
