Where did the summer go? This year it sped by at warp pace. Now that it is truly fall, I should at least mention some of what is/has been happening. Note that today our roses are at the loveliest thy have been--lots of blooms. We have not had frost yet so hopefully this fall will last and last.
During the summer Bob had a PET scan. Bob's blood work is unreliable as to what the multiple myeloma is doing so every 6 mo. he has this test done to see if there are fresh tumors (lesions) on the bone anywhere. We hadn't heard anything after this was done so like the saying goes no news is good news. It was !!!!!!!, hurrah, hurrah, yesterday Bob was told that there were not any new lesions. Everything looked ok. Bob will continue on with the velcade---alone!!!! every other week by intravenous. Good news for both of us. The worst side affect for Bob is the neuropathy. We learned on this past weekend that with the velcade the feeling will come back once off of the velcade. This is unlike the revlamid. Bob has already noticed this as the day or so at the end of the two week cycle, his feet are doing well again. So we can safely say that today Bob is in remission the myeloma is not active and so this is the maintenance regime.
Last weekend we attended the Southern Alberta Myeloma Patient Society conference. This was most informative. The speakers were top notch. The research across the world is top rate and what is taking place right here in Calgary (what is another adjective) is stupendous. Our Dr. Bahlis and his wife Dr. Neri have research going on that deals with----things I didn't understand and for sure can't spell---. They have just added another young Dr. to their clinic who is already involved with research. I could run the other two docs names by you to impress you as to where they come from and what they are researching in their parts of the world but sheesh you just had to hear the excitement in their voices as to what they do and what they are learning about myeloma. They have a number of new drugs on test and a number more that will soon be able to go on test. The combinations of drugs that that they are looking at are ever evolving so the most important thing we came away with was HOPE. Myeloma will have new procedures to combat it with for a hopefully long time. This was a boost for us. There is research on mind/body interactions that affect psychological, physiological and survival outcome for people with cancer. Also examining roles of physical activity for enhancing wellness in chronic disease populations (mostly cancer). Calling multiple myeloma a chronic disease is like wow yeah!!!!!! This off course means Bob needs to exercise more even some on any truly yukky days. We also took away what everyone has always known----all things in moderation--food, diet, exercise, checkups of all types.
Bob is very happy at his job and some weeks is maintaining almost full time hours. It is a wee bit more difficult the beginning week after chemo. I am back in school two days and doing the snack for our 175 kids----they aren't all at school every day so it works!!!!
Tim's sore from long ago is healed. He was allergic to what the nurse was packing it with!!!! Grrrrrrr. So he had Barbie are taking a trial trip away first weekend in Oct. to Vegas. Vegas is suppose to be the easiest place to go in a wheelchair. The fella from Quadriplegic Canada (Calgary?) has a condo there all ready for anyone in a wheelchair. He rents it out at a nominal charge. Should this go well................next stop Disneyland with the whole family. The money from the social almost 2 years ago will finance that trip.
Today I am at peace with the world (well most of it) and "feel" great. To take a note from our daughter ......it is well with my soul.... (no tattoos for me tho).
If this video may be of interest to you it is about multiple myeloma from a Calgary survivor. You should be able to just click on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bfwhVwoZqI&list=PL6FEA9179A6F7B1B1
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