Wednesday, May 4, 2011

M Spike Remains 0.1

After several months off of maintenance recent labs show everything to be unchanged. My M-Spike remains at 0.1 and my other numbers look solid. The real good news is that the neuropathy I was feeling in January, has gotten much better. I am sure 14 months of intense treatment just caught up with me, so the little break was probably needed and definitely enjoyed.

I have been slow to document how things have been going, mainly because with the reduction of cancer treatment, life has picked up. A third kid in the mix takes away from much of the free time I experienced in the past. I find myself cooking pancakes "with syrup mistakes" in the morning for Ocean and helping him get ready for school and the day ending with a hour routine to get the kids in bed. By 8:00pm I am pretty spent and Cassie and I use this time to watch a movie or read together.

All in all we are returning to our new normal. I am still very passionate about putting an end to Multiple Myeloma. I have given several talks over the last few months to help build Multiple Myeloma awareness and encourage people to push through their own life struggles. That has been very rewarding.

Lastly, we celebrated back to back birthdays this past week. First, our precious gem, Ruby, turned 1!!! She continues to smile in delight and shower her love and joy on anyone willing to receive. Following her birthday we were blessed with the birth of another nephew. His name is Eli Philip and he already has the "Hail" and "Go Blue" fist pump down and he is not even a week old.



I hope everyone continues to dominate and if you are interested, let me know how you are doing by leaving a comment!

11 comments:

Barbara said...

Congratulations on your new normal and reaching a steady reading. Have you been able to return to work outside the home? I may be approaching a time when I need to consider this and was wondering what your experience has been. Pushing through and dominating my AML.

Laura Brabbs said...

I hope Eli grows up and is strong and determined to dominate life as his Uncle Phil!!!! Keep fighting Bro, the numbers will hit 0 in no time, I have no doubt in on mind!!! Love you, Laura and baby Eli

Kindred Spirit said...

Happy Easter to you all. God is so good, and I am so happy to learn of your good news. You intentions are in my daily prayers. May God bless you all. Keep fighting the good fight!

Linda said...

So glad you have settled in to the new normal...busy living your glorious family life! Thankful for steady, stable readings and guess your body just likes to be at .1! Keep it there as you dominate MM! Your new nephew is adorable...what joy kids bring!

Jobi Harrell said...

ALLELUIA! This is wonderful post-Easter joy! Peace and HAIL!!!! (Singing now...) Hail! to the victor valiant,
Hail! to the conqu'ring hero,
Hail! Hail! M.M. Champion,
Phil Brabbs is the best!

And the arrival of Eli...just wonderful. His parents are wise in the choice of his namesake...
But, gulp, Ruby is ONE?!?!?!?!?! What the...I mean the dates add up and all but, really? So fast. Too fast. I think the saying is the days are long but the years are fast! Sigh. I'm still remembering when it was just wee little Ocean.

Sandy said...

Good to hear that you are enjoying a stable and new normal life with your family and I intend it continues, for the highest and best good of all concerned... so be it and SO IT IS!!!! whooo! Amen.

Steve said...

Glad to hear the neuropathy is subsiding. And the fist pump pic is nothing short of awesome!

TiffnKirk said...

I am happy to read that you are returning to life and enjoying your large family. I was wondering what your kappa/lamda light chains and ratio is right now? Kirk's ratio is abnormal despite the fact that both values are normal. His kappa light chains continue to rise every two months and will soon also be out of the normal range. This is concerning to me. Thanks for all your info!!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your numbers, Happy Birthday to Ruby and what a fantastic picture of Eli. Keep dominating. :D

No No said...

That's absolutely WONDERFUL news! I'm tickled for you!

Barry said...

Congrats on your stability! And on the new member of the family! (The little ones are so adorable!!) I've had several months of good numbers for a while now. The Revlimid (10mg) seems to be doing it's job. My system is still in flux -- I had an outbreak of Shingles recently. That's slowly subsiding. Hopefully things will settle down for me so I can figure out what the new normal really should be.