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!

Speaking at the Ann Arbor Vineyard Church Today! (Watch Live Online)

Although I am pretty physically beat down (tired and weak) by all the treatment and still struggling with a cold, I committed a few months ago to speaking at the Ann Arbor Vineyard Church on my journey to Dominate Life.

I took some Dex last night as I push through Cycle #4 of consolidation treatment; so I think even if my body says no, my brain will say yes and I should be able to deliver something this morning during my presentation. What it actually will be...you'll have to tune in to find out but we should all be aware that Sexy Dexy is on the loose. (Here's the recorded presentation, Fast Forward to the 30 minute mark: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11003299)

If you are in the area I will be giving my presentation at both the 9:30am and 11:00am (EST). The building is the old Ann Arbor Civic Center located on 2275 Platt Road. Dress attire is typically jeans or whatever you feel comfortable with. There's free coffee when you walk in, which I will be certainly dominating.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my Little Rainbow who is 3 Today! What a joy to see this day after being diagnosed two years ago with this disease.

You Know You've Had Too Much Chemo When...

Tuesday I returned back to B1 at the UMCCC for return to roughly 4 cycles of infusions. Oddly enough, I felt like I was returning back home after spending most of the spring and summer in a hospital bed or recovering at mi casa from two bone marrow transplants. This feeling that life is returning to normalcy (if you can call ongoing chemo that) has prompted the Top 5 Reasons of when you know you have had (way) too much chemo:

(5) When you can pronounce all the drugs and their exact dosages and your favorite being senokot and colace

(4) When you are back to the same weight you were in high school and it has nothing to do with running or walking a lot

(3) When they call your name in the cancer center patient waiting room and several people quickly speak up and say "He's right over there"

(2) When your veins are so impossible to find that the nurse tech questions whether they are even there anymore

(1) When your wife tells you to go to chemo infusion by yourself!

My spirits really seam to be on the rise and I can't tell if it's because (a) the cancer is on it's last leg (b) my favorite season (autumn) is almost upon us or (c) the increased hope that my Wolverines may have a winning record for the first time since my cancer diagnosis. It's probably (c), but maybe All of the Above combine with swinging Ruby high up to the sky!

P.S. 7 more days remaining on FREE SHIPPING for your Dominate shirt(s) if you order online by clicking here. PROMO CODE = kickcancer

More domiNATION

Tomorrow marks the start of my consolidation therapy roughly 10 weeks after my second autologous bone marrow transplant. In Phil terms, we are starting more nuclear warfare on my bone marrow in hopes to rid any remaining Multiple Myeloma and knock this stuff so far into oblivion that it won't want to come back any time soon (and hopefully never). Apparently research is showing that maintenance therapy is helpful in driving a deeper response and longer remission.

The plan is to do max dosage of RVD for 4-8 cycles and eventually remove some of the drugs and lower the dosage. I think the long term schedule is TBD, but I think we will be keeping up some level of drugs (i.e. nuclear warfare) to present a hostile environment to ensure the Myeloma gets the message that it is NOT wanted back in my bone marrow. I am very excited about this approach because my body is recovering well from the summer's two transplants and I smell domiNATION.

Speaking of domiNATION, many people across the country have joined forces to help raise awareness and funds for MM research, none of which I knew prior to being thrust into the world of Myeloma. Just today some guy down in Ohio decided to run the Columbus Half Marathon in honor of me and to support the Cancer Kicker Foundation. Here's his blogpost about what he is doing if you happen to be in the area and want to help out. There are a few more domiNATION's that are being established in the South, West Coast and Midwest if you want to get involved. If you want to learn how to start your own, read how to do that right here:

• Miles4Myeloma by a daughter of a MM Patient. Follow Laura on Facebook as she attempts to run, ride walk over 1000 miles to raise over $1000 to dominate MM!
• The Southern Pearls are looking to kick cancer in the South! This is another daughter and caregiver of her mother who is dominating MM.
• It's official, the first domiNATION event is going to happen in the windy city of Chicago during Michigan Football's Big Ten Opener against Indiana! Check it out here!
• There are several other domiNATIONs underway that I will mention in a future blogposts!

Since it's inception just over a month ago, the domiNATION has raised over $10,000 to support the work being done by Dr. J at University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. J is committed to finding a cure for everyone diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. I stand along side him and his staff in their efforts and applaud him for his commitment to me and everyone else that has joined the MM community.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation, you can do so by clicking here. 100% will fund MM Research. No operating overhead...yipee!