Soooo we are into a month of no cancer. This was confirmed by the testing done this past week. The protein free light chain was unchanged. The monoclonal #1 was at .5 a month ago and was not tested or the test had not come back by our May 30 appointment. All the folks we are in contact with at Tom Baker were excited and happy for Bob. I believe that even Dr. B is in awe of this. He won't call it remission until several more months have passed. One thing he said was "that I will never give up on a patient". Then added "don't take that the wrong way". We will let you interpret that however you desire.
So Bob has fought tooth and nail for a decade. I was thinking about some of the things that happened in the past decade. Our son was married to Cori, we went to Arizona, grandkids graduated and others left school. We were blessed with four more grandkids, the oldest is now 9. We moved from a house to a condo. I left my job at the preschool at stem cell transplant time. Bob retired and was honoured by the company. We had at least 4 different vehicles. We took 3 kids on a trip to BC. We made several trips to Niagara Falls. Bob's dad passed away. We also had several friends and relatives pass away. We went on a helicopter ride over the Falls. Lots of life going on in a decade. Think about what happened in your life this past decade.
As we try and understand what a real remission means we are at a loss. Don't get me wrong we are totally thankful and praise our Lord for His great mercy to Bob. Bob's physical body is dealing with the ravages of this fight. Dr. B has said that it could take up to a year for the bones to BEGIN to repair themselves as the cells needed for repair are hiding.????? Naturally there may be holes that never heal. Bob's spine has also been affected. All that to say Bob does not really feel any different today than he did 30 days ago. The first adrenalin surge has passed. I think we thought we could go back to precancer and Bob would be able to do everything and anything. So we will take this day by day. We trust God for each day and what He has for us each day. We pray that we can serve and will be able to know what that looks like. Then take each month as it comes and trust remission would be a real word in our vocabulary.
Bob is still on the 3 chemo treatments. Altho Dr. B thought one extra week off is great idea. I think the doc doesn't want to stop treatments yet. The what ifs pop back in and why perhaps allow the cancer to start again? Would it?
This is a new trail on this cancer road and we will be learning how to navigate it. Trusting God to show the way. Psalm 119:105--Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
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