The Plan

     We went back to the doctor in Georgetown today for the results of the bone marrow test.  He showed us a picture of Daddy's marrow and pointed out the myeloma cells which are at 20% now.  Just for a comparison, they were 70% when he was diagnosed.  So, praise God we are better off than we were.  This confirmed a relapse.  He is still waiting on results from the chromosome study.  When Daddy was initially diagnosed, he had the "good" gene mutation.  Please pray that this is still the case.  He said if the results come back and it is the "bad" gene mutation, we may have to change the course of treatment a little.   

     So, the plan is for Daddy to start Revlimid, which is a chemo pill, sometime the middle of next week.  A special drug company has to ship it to him. But, apparently he is still child-bearing age (isn't that funny :), so he had to be counseled today and will have to be counseled again by the drug company about how he cannot have children while on this drug.  Good thing we don't have to worry about that:)  He will take this in combination with Dexamethasone, which is a powerful dose of steroids.  Daddy has been on these steroids before and it is not a whole lot of fun!  He loses a couple nights sleep and then crashes.  But, he is ready, and we are ready to support him.  Hopefully, he will respond well to this treatment and we will go from there.  In April, he will meet with his doctors at MUSC and decide if another transplant is the best option or if we should wait.  It will depend on the chromosome study and how he is responding to the Rev/Dex combo.  

     Overall, I feel very relieved after going today.  I was really praying and believing for complete healing but that is not God's plan yet.  I have a couple of specific prayer requests.  First, that Daddy will respond to treatment and it will knock this myeloma out!  Second, that his chromosome study will come back that he still has the "good" gene.  Lastly, please pray for strength and minimal side effects for Daddy.  As I read other myeloma stories, and believe me I have scoured the internet :), I am amazed at how well Daddy has done.  God was so good in allowing us to find Daddy's cancer before it affected his spine or his kidneys like so many.  We have many, many things to be thankful for!  

    One more thing just to show you how good God is.  We are reading through a little bible story book the boys have each night.  You won't believe what the story was on tonight-faith...the story of the mustard seed.  How fitting!  God's is truly allowing my family's faith to grow through this.  I was amazed at the timing and I think it was more for me than them tonight.  

Anyway, one of my favorite verses that means so much right now...

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass ... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. (Psalm 37:4,7)

    Thanks for your prayers.  Please keep them coming!

~much love to you all

Hands

     This has been one long week!  It seems like tomorrow will never get here and like the devil is fighting harder than ever to make me doubt God and His healing power.  But, he won't win!  We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds our hands and we are going tomorrow believing that we are going to receive great news!!  

     As we have faced this news, I've thought a lot about the future and then God directed me to a story about a young mother who is facing cancer.  She talked about how she is totally at peace with whatever happens and that really we should none live any different than she is because we never know when our last day will be.  Just because someone is facing cancer, we tend to react and treat them as though their days are numbered.  When, in reality, all of our days are numbered.  She quoted the following verses:

Psalm 39:4  "Show me, Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is."
Psalm 90:12 "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

    I am challenging myself to treat each day like it is my last.  Yes, Daddy is facing serious stuff.  But, hey, today could very well be the last day for any of us.  Therefore, I am going to savor every moment with my loved ones and make sure they know just how much they mean to me.  Will you please do the same?

    Now, onto some lighter stuff.  I realized the other day that I hadn't posted a recent picture of Daddy since he recovered from the transplant.  If you haven't seen him, you can't imagine how good he looks.  His hair has come back curly (not black and curly like he ordered, just curly :) and he keeps it very short.  But, he has gained all his weight back and hasn't been hospitalized or even to the doctor but once and that was last week with a sinus infection.  Praise God!  They told us they were sure he would be hospitalized for infection at least once after the transplant.  God is good!  So, I thought I would leave you with a few pictures tonight. 

Poppie came over to see Peyton on his first morning of 1st grade!

 The family got together in August to celebrate Daddy's 58th birthday!  You see the children took care of the candles :)

 Please, if you read this before 2:30 tomorrow, Praise God and thank Him for great results.  We are going expecting and believing.  Thanks for lifting Daddy up.  Your prayers mean more than you can ever imagine.

~much love to you all

Updating...

I shouldn't have waited so long to update this blog.  Updating all along would sure make this post a lot easier.  However, after Daddy's transplant, I think I subconsciously thought that if I put myeloma out of my mind...it would go away.  Well, that was not the smartest thinking.  

     Let me just dive right into what is going on...Daddy goes for bone strengthening injections once a month.  Each month they do blood work.  This is a simple way to look at one cancer marker-the M-spike.  His m-spike has been 0.8 since the transplant (0 is where it should be).  As long as it remained stable, all was good.  In December, it crept up to 0.9 and in January it was again 0.9.  At that visit, the doctor said if it moved up again, we would have to do some other tests.  Well...it was 1.1 after that visit.  This rise is indicative of a relapse.  I can tell you we were not at all prepared for this. Like I said, we tend to block things from our minds and relapse was one of them.

    I do want to stop here and explain a little to help everyone understand.  I know this is a relatively rare kind of cancer and it is a little hard to understand.  It is a blood disease (think in the family of lymphoma or leukemia).  The difference is myeloma cells get into your bone marrow and actually start to "attack" the bone so to speak.  I won't get real technical but basically lesions form which eat away at the bone.  It can also cause kidney problems due to the calcium and protein from the bones breaking down.  Lastly, it weakens the immune system.  Thankfully, Daddy has done very well with his kidneys and his immune system.  He did have a couple of broken ribs when he was diagnosed but praise God it wasn't his back or something worse.

   Anyway, now that I have told you more than you wanted to know, Daddy did have bone scans last week to check for lesions.  They are present on the larger bones of the body and his skull and this is indicative of active myeloma.   He also had a bone marrow biopsy done as well.  The doctor explained once again that this is a chronic disease and he considers these recent findings a bump in the road and not a roadblock.  That is reassuring to us.  From my research (I like to be in the know and can get a bit obsessed :), I feel very blessed that there are many, many treatment options available and many more in the pipeline.  This wasn't the case ten years ago.  So, all of you that support Relay and the American Cancer Society...thank you!!

     We go back to the doctor Thursday for the results from the bone marrow biopsy and the 24 hour urine test.  The doctor in Georgetown is going to consult with the doctors in Charleston and they will recommend a treatment plan.  We don't know what the future holds but praise God we know who holds the future.  I know Daddy is not too thrilled about the possibility of another transplant (which is one of the options).  Please pray for the doctors as they make treatment decisions and please pray for Momma and Daddy as they do also. 

    I know most that read this blog are friends and family.  But...in my "research" I have come across many personal blogs from people that had/have loved ones suffering from Multiple Myeloma.  I can't even begin to tell you how much these have helped me understand this disease and how much hope they give us.  So, I may tend to go into details that you might just want to skip over.  But, I thought this blog might help people who are like me looking for details, treatment options, and just plain hope.  God has allowed our family to face this trial for a reason.  I'm not sure what that reason is but we choose to trust God and know that no matter what He is in control.

    Last thing and I promise I will quit.  We had prayer at church today and it was awesome.  It was a spirit I can't explain and I am choosing to believe a healing that can only come from God took place this morning.  I am so thankful for our church family and all our wonderful friends and family that continually lifts Daddy up and holds our hands as we walk through this battle.  I promise the next post will not be this long...thanks for reading if you have made it this far.  Please keep praying AND praising on Daddy's behalf.  

~much love to you all

A sweet friend sent me this on facebook at just the right time so I thought I would share:

  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7