Down, Down, Baby!

The M-spike is almost DOMINATED! For the first time in almost three months and six rounds of aggressive chemotherapy later, my M Protein has gone from 0.2 to 0.1. I was starting to get pretty irritated from hearing 0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 0.2 while aggressively treating the disease through consolidation therapy following two autologous bone marrow transplants this summer.

I realize everyone is different, but most of the young people I follow with MM have achieved CR (Complete Response) following induction therapy that was much less aggressive than mine, followed by a single autologous transplant. We have found that because my disease was advancing slowly, it has followed that same trend on its way out of my body.

To be transparent, this news brings a big sigh of relief. I had a number of folks remind me to remain patient and that a M-Spike of 0.2 is great, but when your goal is CR and you have been taking aggressive therapy for 4 months with no signs that the disease is diminishing; it can start to weigh on your emotions especially when you are physically being taken down to the weakest point in your life.

Thanks to everyone who has remained so supportive throughout this journey. We cannot thank you enough for the meals, the words of encouragement and other support that has come in various forms. A special thanks to Daniel for challenging me to believe that God has healing for me and wants to dominate this disease. My prayer for the entire week was to receive this word and live with an expectation that my M-spike would be lower.

Where to next? Well 0.0 of course! I begin maintenance therapy which takes me from three drugs to one; and the one that I will be on is only 60% the dosage. We will be checking the M-Spike again in 5 weeks.

I'll end with a picture of Coach Hoke and me after the Washington Kick. Watch out Myeloma and watch out Ohio!