Some Good News

We got some good news from the latest round of blood sampling and today's doctor visit. The M-spike actually decreased slightly this time, down by 0.1, after having some significantly sharp increases of 0.3 for the past couple of times. Whereas I had at the doctor's counsel been mentally preparing to resume chemotherapy in January (and postponing at that for insurance reasons), there is now a real possibility that I might not resume at all in 2015. While we must be cautions about putting too much credence on any one test, looking at the trend over the past year and a half, not having another sharp increase makes that big of a difference. Translation: the date for resuming chemotherapy extends beyond the current range of forecasting.

 

We'll go through this again in two months. Thanks for all of your prayers and concerns.

September is Multiple Myeloma Unawareness Week

Blogspot buds - Will you please join me in highlighting unawareness? In this photo, I am wearing a piece of transparent scotch tape on my lapel because I have long planned to take it upon myself to declare the entire month of September as "Multiple Myeloma Unawareness Week." The scotch tape is to highlight unawareness of this invisible disease, an incurable cancer that claims the lives of 10,000 to 11,000 Americans every year, including such notables as former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, actor Peter Boyle (the cranky old dad in Everybody Loves Raymond), advice columnist Ann Landers, and billionaire Sam Walton, as well as other people who were simply my friends. This month will mark seven years since my own diagnosis, when God put the "my" into my own myeloma, http://txbennett.blogspot.com/

You can participate in Multiple Myeloma Unawareness Week by doing any of the following:
- Go to www.Wikipedia.com, and read just 3 or 4 short paragraphs on this disease.
- Join me in highlighting unawareness by wearing transparent Scotch tape on your collar, and posting your picture of same back to me. You might even repost, and encourage others to do the same.
- Contribute to research towards finding a cure at either of the websites listed below. Truth be told, I would probably be more grateful for even a small donation towards finding a cure while I am still alive, than a donation in my memory after I am gone.
Mayo Clinic: https://philanthropy.mayoclinic.org/donate (specify for multiple myeloma research, or where most needed).
International Myeloma Foundation: www.myeloma.org.

Hope to see some scotch tape on collars and lapels. Thank you!