That's our situation. Until now. Hence, I am blogging again.
We had our three month check up to see where my M-spike was at after completing four rounds of maintenance chemo, 15mg of Revlimid, 21 day cycles, for those keeping track at home.
Before I get into the results, I want to talk about Life results from the last four months. Because my life isn't Myeloma, although Myeloma has been a strong life motivator since my diagnosis on 8/8/08.
Here are some major highlights:
- Ocean turned 8!
- Ruby turned 4!
- Traveled to Chicago with Iris on the train
- Had a guy weekend up north in Oscoda
- We took a vacation to South Haven, MI....very lovely
- Cassie is learning how to play the guitar so she can take her show on the road to bars and weddings
- Cassie got 2nd place in her age group in the Dexter A2 5k!
- My business has grown from my business partner and me...to 20ish people in less than a year
2014 has been very good to us half way through and we don't intend on the momentum slowing down now that we have beautiful weather and Michigan football is just two months away!
On to the MM results from last week. Recall, my blood work showed a trace amount of MM last fall. We watched it, and eventually it passed the threshold from not measurable, to slightly measurable at 0.1.
From there...I went on maintenance chemo...the 4 cycles I mentioned above, with the goal at containing the disease at 0.1...or best case...eliminating it.
Well....we are now at 0.2. What this means. We can't claim victory over Myeloma quite yet, but we will take hold of the wins we are having as a family as we build more and more memories.
Next steps. Check labs again in 4 weeks at UMCCC. My last 5 or 6 data points all showed a slight, but upward trend...so we'll see.
I don't get sad very often....like ever. But on Friday as I was driving into work I started to feel bummed about the results. Sometimes it feels good to feel bummed and to allow the reality of the situation to connect through all parts of your body.
Then...Feel Good Fridays popped on the radio - 96.3 for those in SE Michigan. There was a minister talking about how we need darkness to be able to see The Light. Man....those words hit so deeply. My sadness faded, my hope returned....and I had an amazing day! Part of that was because I had Ocean come to work with me.
So it looks like we are going to have to determine new/additional treatment options. I will warm up to that over the next four weeks, we'll probably seek several opinions from some Myeloma Rockstar Specialists...and make a decision.
Find The Light in your day...it's there somewhere.
-Phil
