Kevin is almost completely through his second round of chemotherapy. He and I agree that this round has seemingly gone by more quickly than round one, mostly because we know what to expect now. We see patterns with his symptoms, blood counts, pain level, and mood based on what day of the regimen it is. So although the symptoms are still not fun, they are "easier" to tolerate when we know what is causing them and when they'll resolve.
The most current and aggressive form of treatment for multiple myeloma at this point is combining chemotherapy (Revlimid, Dexmethosone, and Velcade) with what is called an autologous stem cell transplant. Autologous means that they use your own stem cells (a blessing that we don't need to do a donor search!). The stem cells are harvested intravenously and done on an outpatient basis. In order for the stem cells to "take," one needs to start with what I would like to term "a clean slate." This puts a nice label on what is a nasty procedure: a very intense form of chemotherapy that essentially kills off your bone marrow. When the cancer free stem cells are returned to the body, ideally they will multiply in a myeloma free environment. Unfortunately, this means a 3-4 week hospital stay. Reserach shows that doing an autologous stem cell transplant extends remission by about 5 to 10 years--that is, if the transplant is deemed successful. This transplant is tentatively slated for the end of December or beginning of January. Please pray specifically for a successful transplant.
We are very sad about the news of the extended hospital stay, not to mention scared about this intense chemotherapy. Thus far he has been able to avoid losing his hair, but this form of chemo will make him very ill and he will lose his hair. We have made a family decision that we don't want our young girls to see their daddy under these circumstances, so this separation will be an additional strain. Please pray for our girls.
Sometimes everything seems so real that it's crushing, and other days we can hardly believe that all of this is true. I will be honest and admit that sometimes I cry and rage at God. This all seems so senseless! Why Kevin? Why us? Why our children? Aren't we good people, God? But I am reminded that being a follower of Christ doesn't exclude you from suffering. If that was the case, everyone would want to jump on board and the expression of love that we recieve would be so diminished that it wouldn't be love at all--just a no-brainer deal of a lifetime. I didn't sign up for that. The love I recieve is so great that it cannot even be taken from me when devastation rocks my life. Thank you God, thank you for loving me.
And thank you all for all of your continued prayers, help, thoughts, kindness, empathy, notes, flowers, cards, and hugs. I always mention how humbled I am and it continues to be true.
Love to you all,
Kristin
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Thank you for all the continued prayers, thoughts, and kind words. Although we wish the pain relief were more complete, we are very appreciative and grateful that these last two weeks have brought an overall decrease in his level of pain.
He completed the last day of radiation on his thoracic spine last Friday. We have learned that myeloma cells are very sensitive to radiation and die easily when subjected to just a low level. Speaking strictly in terms of his thoracic spine, this has greatly helped in relieving his pain. Since he did get such localized pain relief from the radiation, we have decided that it would be in his best interest to start some radiation on his lumbar spine (a relatively new area of pain), starting early next week.
He will wrap up round one of chemo on October 4th. He starts round two on October 11, round 3 on Nov. 1st, and round four on Nov. 22nd. If all goes as planned and the cancer cells have been sufficiently killed off, he will recieve a stem cell transplant in December.
Many of you are asking me how Kev has been feeling since the chemo. In general, he is faring quite well, and has had very few days that he hasn't been able to function normally (as normal as his pain levels will allow). He won't lose his hair and only has to visit the doctors office one time a week, the rest of the chemo being in the form of pills from the pharmacy.
The other common question we're getting is when we'll know how the cancer is responding to the chemo. Without getting too technical, MM has varying levels of response to chemotherapy. There is a level called "complete response" wherein following the chemo treatments the MM is not even detected in the body. The other levels of response are in decreasing degrees respective to the amount of monoclonal protein detected on blood serum screens. Obviously, we are praying for a complete response. We most likely will not know this information until he has completed at least 2 rounds of chemo.
Some good news is that his blood counts continue to come back positive every week since our discharge from the hospital. He, at this time, is not at increased risk for infection (and that is a blessing in our house since our kids are human petri dishes).
Emotionally, we are on the "cancer roller coaster" and have our good days and bad days. I go from feeling hopeful to angry to tearful in the span of a few hours and it truly is exhausting.
We have the best family in the world and this has done nothing but bring us all closer together. Right now the family is really rallying together and meeting everyone's needs (special thanks to our parents--you guys are absolutely amazing), and we are so very thankful and grateful for the continual offers of help from EVERYONE. Thank you.
I continue to be humbled by the vast amount of readers to this blog. As of today, it has had close to 3,000 pageviews.
Lord, I pray that you will use me and this awful experience for your good. Let our family and others feel the peace that comes from you--the only true peace. Please provide wisdom to Kevin, myself, his other caregivers, and doctors so that these cells will continue to be killed and never return. In Jesus' name, Amen.
He completed the last day of radiation on his thoracic spine last Friday. We have learned that myeloma cells are very sensitive to radiation and die easily when subjected to just a low level. Speaking strictly in terms of his thoracic spine, this has greatly helped in relieving his pain. Since he did get such localized pain relief from the radiation, we have decided that it would be in his best interest to start some radiation on his lumbar spine (a relatively new area of pain), starting early next week.
He will wrap up round one of chemo on October 4th. He starts round two on October 11, round 3 on Nov. 1st, and round four on Nov. 22nd. If all goes as planned and the cancer cells have been sufficiently killed off, he will recieve a stem cell transplant in December.
Many of you are asking me how Kev has been feeling since the chemo. In general, he is faring quite well, and has had very few days that he hasn't been able to function normally (as normal as his pain levels will allow). He won't lose his hair and only has to visit the doctors office one time a week, the rest of the chemo being in the form of pills from the pharmacy.
The other common question we're getting is when we'll know how the cancer is responding to the chemo. Without getting too technical, MM has varying levels of response to chemotherapy. There is a level called "complete response" wherein following the chemo treatments the MM is not even detected in the body. The other levels of response are in decreasing degrees respective to the amount of monoclonal protein detected on blood serum screens. Obviously, we are praying for a complete response. We most likely will not know this information until he has completed at least 2 rounds of chemo.
Some good news is that his blood counts continue to come back positive every week since our discharge from the hospital. He, at this time, is not at increased risk for infection (and that is a blessing in our house since our kids are human petri dishes).
Emotionally, we are on the "cancer roller coaster" and have our good days and bad days. I go from feeling hopeful to angry to tearful in the span of a few hours and it truly is exhausting.
We have the best family in the world and this has done nothing but bring us all closer together. Right now the family is really rallying together and meeting everyone's needs (special thanks to our parents--you guys are absolutely amazing), and we are so very thankful and grateful for the continual offers of help from EVERYONE. Thank you.
I continue to be humbled by the vast amount of readers to this blog. As of today, it has had close to 3,000 pageviews.
Lord, I pray that you will use me and this awful experience for your good. Let our family and others feel the peace that comes from you--the only true peace. Please provide wisdom to Kevin, myself, his other caregivers, and doctors so that these cells will continue to be killed and never return. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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