All Dressed Up and No Place To Go

Terry sure looks happy for a girl with cancer. The picture on the left is a recent photo taken for our church directory. The caption for this item is really a misnomer. We have been going a lot of places and visiting with many of our friends and family. We just dress more casually.
If everything goes right, Terry is scheduled to be admitted to the University of Michigan on December 1st for her stem cell transplant. We won't know about that for at least a few weeks.
This week Terry had to stop her chemotherapy as she has developed a case of shingles. I am no longer the only pain in her side. We don't know what this will do to her moving forward with the transplant. We will learn more in about a week.
This disease really sucks! Just when things seem to start to fall in line, something else appears and screw things up. Through all of this, Terry has had a great attitude. Someone wrote on the blog that she is a hero. She's got my vote too.
Soon after the transplant and the disease is put into remission, we will get all dressed up and have plenty of places to go.
Thanks again to all for your prayers, cards, notes, calls, etc. We are blessed to have so many friends.

A NEW MONTH - ANXIETY AGAIN

Terry has been taking her new regimen for a few months now and is tolerating it well. We thought her next bone marrow biopsy would be at least a month away. To make a long story short, Dr. Bloom ran another test measuring Terry's light chains. No, not the type you have in your closet! Her multiple myeloma is a kappa light chain type. Her kappa free light chains have been averaging anywhere from 22.1 to 25.4. Normal should be 0.33 to 1.94. Since she has been on this new medication, Velcade, her kappa light chains have dropped to 2.74. That is a remarkable result! However the proof of the pudding is in the tasting - in this case testing. We received a message from the transplant team, that they want a bone marrow biopsy scheduled soon. If that comes back as they suspect Terry will now get her stem cell transplant the first week of December.
Now it is time to get nervous again. If you have any extra prayers left, please say one for Terry to do well in the biopsy.
Thank you all for the cards, prayers, calls, e-mails, concerns and prayers. Yes, I meant to say prayers twice.

A day that wasn't

09/09/09 came and went---just like all the rest of the days this year. This was supposed to be the day the magic started and it wasn't. It was just a day.
Terry is doing well on her new medication regimen. She now takes Velcade on day 1, 4, 8 and 11-then a 10 day reprieve. That is one course and then she starts all over again. No major side effects, however her back aches more than in the past and she still tires with too much exertion. We are keeping the chasing down to once a day.
Her hair is making a comeback. We don't know if it will be straight, curly, gray, blond, red, black, brown or calico. Whatever it will be nice. We are having our pictures taken next week for the church directory. Terry will have a babushka.
Thanks to everyone for all that you do. You mean more to us than you will ever know.

A NEW DAWN STARTS TODAY

Terry started on a new therapy today. She will now be taking a product called Velcade which causes the cancer cells to stop dividing and hopefully causes the cancer cells to die. Cancer cells appear to be more sensitive to these effects than normal cells. (Let's hope that is the case with Terry).

She will be on this course of therapy for 3-4 regimens before another bone marrow biopsy is done. Each course of therapy is 21 days-so it will be it will probably be sometime in November before any results are in.

She had been on a drug called Revlimid for the past 7 months. This drug is a derivative of thalidomide. For those old enough to remember thalidomide is the drug associated with "flipper babies" due to birth abnormalities. It was used in the '60s for pre-partum nausea prevention. (I am recalling the information about thalidomide from my memory recesses-so I might be off a little).

There are a whole host of things that can be tried. Unfortunately they all take months before evaluation.

Terry is doing fine both physically and emotionally. She gets more and more energy each day and has a very positive attitude. I know the attitude is helped a lot by having so many good friends with tons of prayers and well wishes.

Her physical strength is probably due to the fact that we continue to chase each other around the house. (Some things never change).

A bad day - but this too will be overcome

Terry got the results of her biopsy today. The cancer has grown from 8% to 23% of her marrow. In spite of the medicines, etc. that she took to lower her cancer count, the disease increased. That puts everything on hold. No transplant on 09/09/09-no hospitalization, just a new weapon or two to try and get this cancer under 5% of her bone marrow cells so she can have her transplant.
We don't have a timeline yet, for the new drug cocktail she will be taking. However we continue to keep our faith and know we are in the hands of experts who will do everything in their God-given power to help. In the meantime keep those thoughts and prayers coming in. When we learn anything it will be posted.

From January to August 2009- A brief history

January - a terrible month - Terry is diagnosed with multiple myeloma (cancer of the bone marrow). Fortunately this is a cancer where there have been some recent strides and we are blessed with a top-notch Hematologist/Oncologist, Dr. Robert Bloom.

February through March - showed little physical improvement, however Dr. Bloom was encouraged by Terry's hematological responses.

May - Terry has her 2nd bone marrow biopsy and her cancer cells have fallen from 68% to 8%. The ultimate goal is less than 5% cancer cells. This is also the month that she meets Dr. Shin Mineishi. He will be her physician to handle everything pertaining to her transplant. He is the Director of the Transplant Department at the University of Michigan. We have all the confidence in the world with him.

June and July - Terry has her own stem cells removed. It was a long and arduous process as she had to go through two procedures to get enough cells. The goal was 6,000,000 and she pumped out almost 7,000,000 of those suckers. That will be enough for two stem cell transplants should she need a 2nd one. July was a good month!

August - Terry has completed all of her therapy that we pray will bring her cancer cells to less than 5%. A bone marrow biopsy was done on 08/19 by Dr. Bloom. We will have those results on 08/24. Evidently Dr. Mineishi is confident that her bone marrow biopsy will suffice for the transplant as Terry is scheduled to be admitted to the University of Michigan on 09/09/09 to have her stem cell transplant on that day. We think 09/09/09 is a very good sign. As many know 666 is sometimes construed to be evil. If you tip 666 upside down you get 999 and all of the evil is drained and the numbers are filled with goodness and hope. That is our story and we are sticking to it!!!

Terry's Mom celebrates her 90th birthday

Our immediate family from left to right in the rear:

Dick/Richard-Terry in her babushka, Karen, Jim

seated Terry's Mother Mary Podkowka