December 2013 Update

I went to see the cancer doc today. The M-spike increased to 1.2, up by 0.2 over the past two months. The good and the bad news is that it is increasing at its same, normal rate as before, no faster, no slower. Although the doc will not make any predictions, I can do the math and see that at this rate, it will probably be sometime in mid 2015 before I resume chemotherapy, if I were to use the same trigger points as before. The better news though, is that the cancer doc is talking like it would be kind of nuts to resume at those levels, and might be wiser to let the cancer go higher before resuming chemo. That could push it back another full year before resuming, to mid-2016.

 

Carol and I will go see the good folks at Mayo in late January, and see what they have to say. Meanwhile, thanks for all the prayers, and happy new year to all!

Happy (early) New Year!

On New Years Day 2013, I swam one mile and was so excited about it that I set a goal of swimming two miles on New Years Day 2014, and foolishly made the mistake of publicly stating my goal on a forum such as facebook. Then along came a stem cell transplant at the Mayo Clinic Rochester for the months of January and February, and I was out of the pool as a precautionary measure against infections for months.

On June 24, I was able to resume swimming, and was pleased to get in a one-mile swim 10 days later on Independence Day. I have been trying to keep the routine up, and got in another one-mile swim last week.

Today, I went to the pool, planning to do a 1200 meter swim, but after I got into the swim, I decided, "Hey, I'm here at the pool, the swimming is going pretty good, I'm going to have 1200 meters (about 6 furlongs or 3/4 of a mile) in anyway, I've got an available time slot and the pool isn't busy on a weekday (could be busy on a holiday) - why not go ahead and get in my two mile swim a few weeks early?" So I did.

As the title declares, "Happy Early New Years!"

October's Test Results

I am continually humbled by the number of people who ask how things are going on the cancer front, or otherwise check up on me, and pray for me. I gave a blood sample a couple of weeks ago, and got the results and saw the cancer doc last week. The M-spike (measure of the cancer) has remained stable at 1.0 over the past two months, and has increased by only 0.3 from the reading 6 months ago in April. This means that the cancer is increasing at a much slower rate that it appeared to be over the summer. I will go back for another local test and data point in late December, then go back to see the friendly folks at Mayo in late January. Although the cancer doc will never make such predictions, I could see this going another couple of years before resuming chemo if all continues to go on the current course, although I am hoping and praying for much more time than that.

 

Bottom line is that for now I am feeling good, off chemo, and not scheduled to go back onto chemo anytime soon. Further, the cancer does not appear to have done any damage to the body (bones, organs, etc.). As my pastor's recent sermons from the Sermon on the Mount have reminded us, anything beyond these things is not something to worry about today. We have done all we can, and trust the rest to God.

 

Thank you all for the love, care and prayers.

Steady as she goes, Captain.

On July 8, I had a blood sample taken and shipped to Mayo Clinic for analysis. It showed no increase in the M-spike, which is the measure of the cancer. This level, no-increase is the new "hoped for", and is good news. More updates in about a month.

June Update

 

This week we got test results back from blood samples taken on Monday, June 10. One sample was analyzed locally by my local cancer doc, and the other was shipped in a chilled container for analysis by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The local M-spike was 0.8, up from their M-spike of 0.7 in April. The Mayo M-spike was 1.1, down from their reading of 1.3 in May. The samples taken on Monday came from the same arm, at the same time, using just one prick of the needle and tubing. So, the Mayo lab read a little bit higher than the local lab, which is not a big deal.

What all of this means is that the surprisingly high M-spike reading at Mayo in May is probably a valid data point, but it also means that the cancer is not growing at an aggressive rate. The various cancer measurements (M-spike, bone marrow biopsy, and something called kappa free light chains) all tell very different stories, but taking them all into consideration, it is probably safe to say that the cancer is down to 1/5 or ¼ its level prior to the stem cell transplant. That’s not as dramatic a decrease as others have experienced or as we had hoped, but it is still good. If the cancer would stay at that level indefinitely without increasing, that would be wonderful.

The bottom line of all this analysis is that right now I am feeling great (still having to take it a little easy, but feeling great) and I am off of chemotherapy drugs. I now pick up and live my life as close to normal (or maybe a little better than normal) as possible, but we will continue to monitor the cancer every couple of months and hopefully this will last for a long, long time.

Thanks to all for love, prayers and concern.

Update # 2

On Monday afternoon, Carol & I sat in a small consultation room at the Mayo Clinic, and a very solemn faced doctor apologetically gave us the very bad news. Based on results from blood samples taken that morning, it appeared that the stem cell transplant had failed to alleviate the cancer. She was bewildered and obviously felt very badly for us, but could offer no explanation. We would sample again in June, and make plans to attack the cancer via chemotherapy. It's not just going back onto chemo that was the bad news - it was loss of a nice number of years off of the survival timeline, whatever that timeline might be.

On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, after returning to Dallas, we spoke to the same doctor via telephone calls and got just the opposite news. She had received results of the bone marrow biopsy, and just as bad as the blood analysis was in the bad direction, so was the bone marrow biopsy extremely to the good in the good direction. The biopsy showed the cancer to be at 2% or less in the bone marrow, by far the lowest it has ever been since diagnosis (it was 64% at diagnosis, 12% when my blood showed cancer to be the lowest in May 2010, and about 25% prior to the stem cell transplant in January). The bone marrow biopsy declares the transplant to be a success, but no one is using the R word (remission) as of yet.

Officially, we are awaiting another blood sampling to be done in June before any declarations are made, but the Mayo cancer doc is very optimistic. She described the Monday blood sample, in her medical terminology, to probably be "just a flukey test."

So, what has happened? In short, on Monday afternoon we got some very bad news, a lot of people did a lot of praying, and on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons we got some very good news. I did nothing at all to merit this good news. Thanks to all of you for your praying, and please continue to do so. To God be the glory for the great things He has done.

100 day post transplant check up

in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1Th　5:18　NAS)

I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth (Psa　34:1　ESV

Today I saw the doctor at Mayo for my 100 day check up following transplant. To say that it didn't go as well as we had hoped would be a serious understatement. To say that it was worse than our worst imaginings would be accurate.

We are still awaiting results of the bone marrow biopsy, but based on analysis of the blood samples, it appears that the transplant had little to no appreciable impact on diminishing the cancer. The cancer is actually higher now than it was when we left here in February, or about half the level it was when we came here in January, and growing at a substantial rate.  For now, the plan is to check the blood again in about a month, and probably resume some form of chemotherapy soon thereafter.

So frequently Christians quip off "praise the Lord" in response to good news, and we should, but a proper understanding of theology is that God is always good, always kind, always loving, and always deserving of the most enthusiastic praise our hearts can ever muster, so in this, too, we give thanks and give praise.

I thank all for their prayers on my behalf. Please keep it up.