The News for June 2015

I gave a blood sample on June 9, and went to see the doc this past Tuesday. The cancer went back up this time, but if you look at the cancer indicator levels over the past five months, things are pretty stable. The doc is not alarmed, and is calling to stay the course and have me come back and check on things again at the end of the summer.

The new drugs (antibody therapies) expected to be released in summer 2015 are not yet out. Once released, they will likely be very expensive, and insurance companies may require that certain less expensive therapies be shown to be ineffective for a patient before authorizing payment on the new drugs. We'll all just wait and see.

So for now, it is still waiting, watching, being at peace and going on with life, work, family and ministry until things turn different. I am working hard, feeling good most of the time, and getting tired a little easy.  Three or four times a week, I make it to the gym and swim anywhere between 1.0 and 1.2 kilometers (5/8 to 3/4 mile).

Thanks for the love and prayers, and caring enough to so often ask how I am doing.

An Encouraging Doctor Visit

I had a good visit with the cancer doc yesterday afternoon. It was actually the most encouraging visit we have had in the 7 1/2 years we've been at this. There are three pieces of good news:

1. From the blood work done last week, the cancer-indicating M-spike dropped from 3.1 to 2.8, a 10% decrease. Add to that, it was over a one month period instead of the normal two.
2. I had a PET scan last week because the cancer had been rising rapidly and we needed to ascertain the risk in delaying chemotherapy for reasons discussed below. The result of the PET scan was that it yielded no evidence of active cancer. That doesn't mean that the cancer isn't there, just that it isn't raging out of control, and that is good news.
3. The third piece of good news actually happened when I went to see the doctor last month, when the doctor used a phrase that no doctor has used with me in the past 7 1/2 years. He said "long term treatment." No doctor had said that before.

An excerpt from an email I received this week from my cancer doc at Mayo, who is also the head of the hematology department there, said "Ten years ago the probability of being alive at 3 years (after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma) was only about 30-40% while now it is closer to 90%." She went on to report that many patients are now surviving into the 15-20 year range. By God's grace, I hope to be one of them, and have a nice number years left in comparatively good quality health.

For now, I will stay off of chemotherapy, and get things checked again in two months (June). Docs in Texas and at Mayo are hoping I can stay off of chemo until the next round of new cancer drugs become available, something called "monoclonal antibodies." They are supposed to be effective at fighting the cancer, without some of the bad and permanent side effects of the last cancer drug I was on.

Thanks for the prayers, friendship and concern.

News from Mayo

Just want to give you a quick update on the events of our recent trip to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. This was a normal two year, 200,000 mile checkup for me, since my stem cell transplant of 2013.

 

Climatologically, it was cold and snowy. We drove, and took a short side trip on the way up to see our son and his family in Peoria, Illinois. While there, they got 8" to 10" of snow. We didn't see ground without snow on it again until we got to Kansas City on the way home several days later. In Minnesota, the temps were about 2 degrees F while I walked to the clinic in the morning, and it was 17 degrees BELOW ZERO when we left Des Moines, IA on the way home Thursday morning. 

 

Medically: The blood work at Mayo shows the same level of cancer as the blood work from Texas Oncology, or actually just a little bit lower. The very thorough X-rays they took show still no damage to the bones or skeletal system. My Mayo cancer doc is the head of the hematology department there, and she was perplexed about whether or not to recommend I resume chemo, and suggested I stay over an additional day for a PET scan to see how the cancer was doing. We stayed the extra day, but they were not able to work me in for the scan. They are two schools of thought in the household as to whether that was a fortunate or an unfortunate occurrence.

 

So, now it is back to waiting until early March for my next scheduled visit with my cancer doc at TX Oncology. If the doctors are undecided about whether or not I should resume chemotherapy, that is a "no" answer for me, because my trigger level for resuming is higher than theirs.

 

It was a good trip, with good additional data for making decisions. We also got to see some good friend we made while going through the transplant program together a couple of years ago. We also saw a lot snow, a lot or cars spun out by the side of the road due to the snow, and enjoyed the change of some cold, cold, weather for us Texans.

 

Thanks as always for the love, prayers and support.

Update January 2015

I had a blood sample taken last week, and went to see the cancer doc today. After four months of staying fairly level, the cancer took a sharp and significant upward turn over the past two months. The cancer doctor is concerned, but agrees that I shouldn't take drastic action (resume chemo) based on a single data event. He is willing to wait until I go back to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for a two-year since transplant checkup on Feb. 3, and then probably even get another blood sampling event at Texas Oncology in early March, before deciding what to do, or when to do it. In addition to the blood work, Mayo clinic will check the urine and x-ray the skeleton to see how it is doing, and either Mayo or Texas Oncology may sample the bone marrow to check on it.

 

I am still feeling very well, working hard at my job and ministries, and there does not yet seem to be impact on the body (bones or organs) from the cancer. I make this post because so many of you are so faithful to continually ask how I am doing. 

 

Thank you. Your prayers, friendship and support are valued greatly.

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!

July Update

Yesterday, I went to see the cancer doc to discuss the results of a blood sample taken a couple of weeks ago. I had the results in hand prior to the visit, so I knew that the cancer was increasing at a higher than normal rate now for the second sampling event in a row. While this was very disappointing news, the doctor said that I am doing fine, and (paraphrase) to quit being such a whiney-baby. I am feeling really fine, too. All said, resumption of chemotherapy will likely start sooner rather than later. While no medical person would dare make a prediction, I could see early 2015 as a likely time to resume taking treatments.

Thanks to all for the love, prayers, care, concern and support.