A story:

We anxiously awaited the doctor’s arrival to his office on Monday afternoon, trying to talk about anything except how nervous we felt (nervous doesn’t feel like the right word). I feel it’s helpful to the story to provide some of our perceptions of Kev’s oncologist: He tends to be on the "realist" side, which we appreciate, but occasionally hearing an optimistic word or two never really hurt anyone. He entered the office, shook our hands, and proceeded to tell us the results of Kev’s bone scan. We already knew that his bones had suffered damage as the disease went undiagnosed for some time. Hearing that his bones still looked bad immediately placed "that feeling" in our guts. I began probing the doctor for clarification and began to understand that his bones actually aren’t any worse than they were 5 months ago. Also, his bone strengthener medication can take years to rebuild damage. Okay, not so bad.

Next news: His "cancer protein" level is going back up. Slightly, but it’s not going down anymore. We need to move to transplant within the next 2 or 3 weeks. Kev and I nodded our heads numbly—okay, whatever it takes doc. The dreaded news: partial response.

Sigh. Okay, let’s get this next test over with: Biopsy (AKA, bone drilling by hand). Better get 3 probes just to make sure we get enough marrow. Prize fighter Kev took it like a champ. Nothing like getting your bones probed following some not so sunny news.

Me (following biopsy): Doc, we tend to only hear the negative at these appointments.
Doc: You actually have quite a few good markers Kevin. All of this just means stage one is done, and stage two needs to begin.
Me: When will we get the bone marrow results?
Doc: Tomorrow night. I’ll call you around 7pm.
Me: But he’s at a partial response?
Doc: Yes. Only 25-30% of patients achieve a complete response. It’s okay, we still have transplant. I expect good news from the biopsy. Let’s hope for less than 20% cancer cells.

The next night….. no phone call.

Today came. Feeling realistic about the results, knowing what we know about his protein level, we certainly were not expecting the news we received today. NO CANCER CELLS WERE FOUND. Praise the Lord God.

Kev: But what about my protein levels? This doesn’t make sense.
Doc: Myeloma will often hide, but this is very good news. Your bone marrow is functioning with normal cells again. Your urine is showing no protein output and there is a normal cellular balance in your marrow. The transplant should knock that protein level right down to zero.

This is still partial response, but it’s darn near complete!

We will be moving forward with transplant soon. I mostly likely will not blog again until after his transplant, since this begins a very busy time.

Thank you to all who think of us, and all who pray for our family. This is great news, but let us praise God also on the bad days. He takes us through the valleys so we can fully appreciate what it looks like on top of the mountain.

God Bless,
Kristin