One Year Ago Today Day +29

It was one year ago today that we met Dr Khalil and did Stevan's bone biopsy and aspiration, leading us to Stevan's diagnosis. We at least had a name, some answers, and somewhere to start. Its been a hard emotional road. Sometimes we don't know where we are going or what is around the next corner but we keep traveling down the path letting God lead us.

Yesterday was a long day for us. We were up and out of the house by 6am in order to go up to OKC to go in for Stevan's first follow up in the clinic at the Stephenson Cancer clinic.

We arrived at the lab at 10:30 for them to draw blood from his line, however they couldn't get it to draw. The nurse had to put Activace in his line and let him sit for 20 minutes. She tried to draw it again, but she was still having trouble.  She decided that Stevan needed to go to lunch and let the Activace do its job. After an hour we went back up stairs and she was finally able to get it to draw.

Stevan was then ready for his dose of antibiotic, Vancomycin. The infusion room let us use their machine, so I set up his line and let him run for his hour dose before we went on up to his appointment with Dr Holter.

The lab gave us his numbers... All is very good!
white cells     5.1
red cells         3.56  just a little low
hemoglobin   10.7  a little low still
platelets         405  Great number!
There were two numbers that showed how his kidneys are functioning. They were about double their high normal number. The nurse said that was normal after him receiving chemo, but they would be worried if those numbers were triple the high normal number.

When we saw Dr Holter, I had to snitch on Stevan. After being couped up in the BMT for almost four weeks, it was difficult for Stevan not to go outside and try to do things, especially when the kids and I were working outside in the garden trying to get it back under control. On Tuesday he got on the mower to try and cut some parts of the garden down. When I kicked him off of it, he then went and started the tiller and began to till. Her reaction, "REALLY! What part of don't play in the dirt and don't mow do you not understand?" There was several times I have had to chase after him with a mask for him to put on when he has gone outside. His line dressing is having some problems staying dry and clean when he is outside in the heat.

After Dr Holter examined him, she said that his numbers looked good so he doesn't need to wear his mask outside, but he still can't play in the dirt or mow and since she is worried about his line getting infected with sweat, she told him that he couldn't do anything that will cause him to sweat. With temperatures soaring in the 90s and close to 100, he can't do anything outside. He can eat fresh fruit and vegetables now (he has been already, since I have been carefully washing and cleaning it at home for him). She cautioned him to stay away from salad bars though.

Finally, Dr Holter said she had to order one more blood test and a 24 hour urine test to finally look at his protein count to see if the Myeloma  is still there. This will determine whether or not he will need to do a tandem transplant. If there is no detection of protein, there will be no additional transplant and he will be considered in "remission". She does want him to do a few months of  maintenance medicine. She says that some of the research has shown that it helps with keeping the Myeloma at bay. We hope she will discuss this in more detail on our next visit in four weeks.