In the not to distant past I was asked how long does one keep getting treatment. Treatment that is hard on the body and mind. Treatment that is costly and someone has to pay for it. Fortunately Bob's medical coverage from work covers our costs. Prescription costs alone from Jan to Aug were almost 120 thousand for us. Yep, someone is paying for that--insurance companies. Insurance companies who receive premiums from companies and individuals. Yes it is costly. I am not sure what will happen to us when Bob does not have his job. Blue Cross for seniors, from what we can decipher, does not pay 120 thousand for prescriptions.
Well Tuesday saw us back at the BMT clinic at Tom Baker. The blood counts are good. Bob will not have a tandem transplant as all of the stem cells were used. The bone marrow aspiration will take place in 2 weeks time and we won't hear about it for probably another 2 weeks after that. If your math is good you will already know we won't know how successful the transplant is for a month. In the mean time we are still working at getting the pain under control. Bob's hip is still bad. Morphine becomes his friend. Bob will also have a PET scan of his body, an MRI of the pelvic, hip areas and a visit to an oncology cardiologist plus an echo cardiogram. Bob's feet have been getting more and more swollen. Often, the feet do not recover over night. The doctors think that it could be from his heart being compromised. There is damage to the heart muscle so it does not pump as efficiently as it could. The blood is not being circulated to the extremities as well as expected. I think that is a close to correct explanation. This entire process is also considered staging which means that once all of these facts are put together another protocol will be considered to keep the myeloma at bay. Dr. Bahlis told us about two new drugs that he will be able to obtain on trial. Bob has already used the other drugs available for myeloma.
My first reaction was to blow out and deflate.......It is one of those things that we know in our heads-- there is no cure for myeloma, yet we always hold out hope that there would be a miracle that would take away pain and disease. Like Paul the apostle says: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." We have faith that God has us in His hands and will care for Bob and I no matter the circumstances. We need to be faithful to living our lives to honor our Lord.
I picked up a pamphlet that I have seen and read many times over the past years from the Southern Alberta Myeloma Patient Society. The front says:
I am BRAVE
I am STRONG
I will not QUIT
I am a WARRIOR
My husband is a fighter, relying on the grace of God, to live with determination to fight this disease.
So Bob is getting treatment until there is no treatment. He will never give up.
No comments:
Post a Comment