Hey everyone! I had a really nice Christmas day and weekend. We started out going to my mom's house in Blue Springs. Travel was okay but when we got to her house parking was an issue. We'd brought shovels anticipating the need, so we got out and just started in. My mom was really concerned about me, but everything was good. Two of my sisters showed up shortly after we'd started, so it moved along pretty quickly. It was very important to us to be at mom's this year since it was her first Christmas without dad, so the weather didn't bother us at all. It was really good to be with family. Here's a picture of me & Tida at my mom's. Tida really likes this picture of us. What's not to like as long as she's in the picture!

Late afternoon we headed to Tida's sister's house. Again, it was so good to spend time with family. The kids always add life to any gathering, and I was unable to spend Thanksgiving with Tida's family, so it was a special evening.

Saturday we shoveled. We shoveled our driveway, then with the help of Tida's sister and her friend, we shoveled their dad's then mom's driveways. Needless to say we'd had our share of shoveling. Of course it snowed some more Saturday night and Sunday morning, so we had to clean that off Sunday. Everything considered, I felt pretty good. That was a lot more physical exertion than I had done for quite a while. My muscles were a little stiff, but never really sore, and I was pretty tired Monday, but have rebounded nicely.

All in all, a good weekend spent with family, and a physical test that I passed with flying colors!

Once again it's been too long since I've posted, but everything's going great! My first week back to work I worked a slightly reduced schedule and didn't have any issues. I wasn't worn out when I got home, stayed active in the evenings and kept busy over the weekend, so last week I worked full days and I'm still feeling great! I'm pretty much back to doing everything I used to do, just being more aware of the people around me and any coughing, sneezing, etc. I certainly appreciate being able to do the little things, like running to the store or going out to eat, that I wasn't able to do before. I'm really looking forward to Christmas and being able to spend time with the family, something else I appreciate a lot more than I used to.
I wish you all a safe and blessed Christmas!

I completed my 2nd day back to work today, and everything's going great! I'm working a slightly reduced schedule - about 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. - and I feel so good that I'm feeling a little guilty not working a full day. My team did such an awesome job while I was gone that I was pretty much caught up on everything by the time I left Monday. I received a lot of calls and emails welcoming me back, and it was just a really good day.
It's been good to get out of the house and do some normal things. Tida and I got out and did some shopping over the weekend, and we have some things scheduled this week and this coming weekend. I feel good physically and my stamina's good, I just still need to be careful and try not to get sick.

I had a pretty good Thanksgiving and weekend. Thanksgiving day we spent with my mom, 2 of my 3 sisters and one of my nephews. It was really good to see everyone-I hadn't seen my sisters since my dad's passing. Friday was supposed to be spent with Tida's family, but a couple of them had been a little under the weather so we decided we should stay home. We took our food over to Tida's sister's and was able to see her and our nephew; again it had been a couple of months since I'd seen him, so even though it was just a few minutes, it was really good to see him. Saturday we stopped by the other sister's house and was able to see her and her 3 girls. I even shot a few baskets and played a little catch with them. It was so good to see everyone and do some normal things.
I hope to find out when I can go back to work in the next day or two-I'm shooting for Monday the 7th. I'm so ready to get out of the house and get back to normal!

I have so much to be thankful for, so as Thanksgiving nears, I'd like to share a few of the things that are foremost on my mind.
I'm thankful for the love and support of my family, friends, and all of you that support me even though we've never met. I've been placed on prayer lists all over the country, receiving prayer and support from total strangers. I still get emotional every time I think of all the support I have.
I'm thankful for my employment and my co-workers. These are really good people that willingly help others throughout the community. I know they truly care about me and I consider them family.
I'm thankful for all the doctors and nurses that have cared for me this past year. Specifically I'm thankful for the entire staff in Radiation Therapy at St.Lukes Hospital; the nurses in the Infusion unit at St. Lukes Cancer Center; and the nurses that took care of me in the transplant unit at the Siteman Center in St. Louis. We've felt that from the beginning that these professionals weren't just doing their jobs, but that they truly cared about us. Some have even stayed in touch even after I'm no longer under their care. Very special people doing very important work.
I know with all I have to be thankful for, this is a pretty short list, but these are the people that have supported me and helped me through this past year. Thank you all.
Happy Thanksgiving!

I had a pretty good week. I continue to use the treadmill and weights and have increased my workout on both. I ran a couple of errands; used the drive-thru's, but it was still good to get out of the house and do something. I'm definitely getting stronger and feeling pretty normal most of the time.
I'm looking forward to spending time Thanksgiving with my family and Friday with Tida's family. It'll depend on me staying healthy and everyone else being healthy, but I'm really excited about it!

I don't have a lot of news to share. I'm getting stronger daily and have started using the treadmill and doing some light weight work. I even changed out a shower head this week. It's getting to be pretty boring staying at home all the time. I'm ready to get back to work but have to wait for the okay from the doctors; I don't expect to be able to go back anytime before Thanksgiving, so for now I'll just keep trying to get stronger!

Today I had an appointment to get lab work done. Results looked good to us, but we haven’t heard anything from the doctors. While I was there they checked my vitals and found my blood pressure to be really low and my pulse really high. So I got a liter of fluids and had to get an EKG. Everything seems to be okay and both blood pressure and pulse seemed to normalize before I left. The EKG needs to be read by a cardiologist, but there wasn’t anything that alarmed anyone.
A couple of days ago I got a package from the Siteman Center in St. Louis that contained quite a few cards that had arrived after my discharge. So those of you that sent cards, thank you, and I finally did receive them.
I’ve been promising you some pictures for awhile, so I thought I’d finally get them to you.
The first picture shows the room and equipment where I had my stem cells collected back in September. I was the first to get started, but there were five of us getting our cells collected, and there were nurses monitoring each of us, so the room was kind of crowded. The second picture shows me hooked up and the collection in process.

These next pictures are from the transplant stay. The first three show the room I lived in for 2 1/2 weeks, my "closet" and my TV.

The next pics are of the transplant. This first one is the cannister that held my cryogenically frozen stem cells.

This is the warming bath. The stem cells had to go from a frozen state to a pre-determined temperature before they could be transplanted.

The next two are the nurses placing the stem cells into the warming bath.

The transplant process, once the cells were warmed, only took about 30 minutes.

This last picture shows Alicea and J.R. shaving my head. My hair started falling out about 2 weeks after I got there, so I decided to just shave it. Tida's used to it, but I'm still a little surprised every time I look in the mirror! Haven't decided if I'll keep it shaved or not. If it was summer it'd be easier to leave it, but my head gets cold and it's not even winter yet!

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve given an update, but before I start the update I have to say, prayer works, and thank you for all the thousands of prayers offered on our behalf. This has been a tough 2 ½ weeks. You might have heard or be tempted to say, “Jim’s tough, he’s a fighter”, but this had nothing to do with me. The fact that I’m sitting at home right now giving you this update, is all God’s hand once again working in my life. There were many days I had no energy and no desire for energy, I’d just lie in bed waiting for the days to pass. The fact that my blood counts responded so quickly and allowed me an early discharge had nothing to do with me or my fight. Prayer works.

The days following the transplant are a blur. I know that immediately following the transplant I felt pretty good, but as each day passed and my blood counts crept towards zero, I had less and less energy. Rock bottom was Monday the 19th into Tuesday the 20th. I’d acquired an infection in the stomach, and starting Monday afternoon, I had a fever, high blood pressure, and high pulse rate. As the evening progressed, I developed rigors, which is uncontrollable shivering or shaking. I got Demerol to relieve the shaking, but it came back within 45 minutes. They gave me over 2 liters of fluid throughout the night and a blood transfusion-they wanted to give me two units but were only able to give me one due to the high fever. The fever broke around 3 a.m. Tuesday and the worst was over. The next couple of days are simply gone, I just know I had had no energy and didn’t really care. Amazingly, my blood counts started going back up Tuesday, and made dramatic increases on Thursday. Not surprising, Thursday’s the day I started feeling better. My counts kept getting better, to the point where there wasn’t any reason to keep me in the hospital. Saturday the 24th I was discharged, but needed to stay local in case anything came up, plus I had a follow up appointment on the 27th. At the appointment it was determined that because of my counts and the fact I had had good care available at home, there wasn’t really any reason to keep me around. They were a little nervous about the release because it was earlier than they expected. They made it clear I’m supposed to limit my contact with others as much as possible and wear a mask when there is contact, and notify all the doctors whenever I have any new symptoms-cold, fever, anything. So the next couple of months will be interesting as my immune system rebounds.

I’m still very tired and my energy seems to fluctuate throughout the day. Being home should help me get better more quickly, but I’m sure there’ll be a lot of long days sitting at home.
Again, thank you for all your prayers and support. It works.
Prayer works.

I'm probably going to forget some stuff, just because it seems like there's been a lot going on. We arrived in St. Louis Friday afternoon, got lab work done, then was admitted to the hospital and in my room by 4:30. My first round of chemo was scheduled for Friday night around 10:30. To help with one of the side effects, they recommended chewing ice before, during and after chemo. The treatment was a little late getting started, so I was chewing ice until about midnight! Second chemo treatment was Saturday morning at 10:30. Same ice routine. Sunday was supposed to be my day of rest, but that's pretty much impossible in the hospital. Today was day 0, or transplant day. They brought my stem cells in the room in a cryogenic tube at about 11:30, then thawed them in a water bath. I had two bags of cells to take in and each one took about 15 minutes. I've just been resting since then.
I've been feeling pretty good, minor bouts with nausea, no appetite, and just tired. They say my worst days are still to come, probably day 4 or 5 post transplant, where I will just feel bad and not want to do anything at all. That should only last a day or so then I should start feeling better.
Tida of course took pictures during the transplant, so at some point I'll get those posted along with the pictures of the harvest of the stem cells. I'll try to keep this going for everyone, I know there's so much support out there. Thank you all!

I’m finally starting to feel like I have some energy again. I did absolutely nothing over the weekend and didn’t go to work Monday. Finally Monday afternoon I felt like a doing a few little chores around the house, so I‘d do a chore for 15 minutes or so, then rest for an hour. Now that’s a schedule I’d like to maintain for a long time! I’m back to work now, but I’ve decided that I just don’t need to push myself, so I’m cutting out early and getting some good rest time in.
I’ve been really emotional the last couple of weeks. I’d like to blame it on the radiation, but I think it’s just that I’ve been very aware of the number of really good people that God’s surrounded me with, and how much they truly care. Realizing I don’t have to be “superman”, cutting back on hours worked, and letting people do things for me has been difficult but necessary for my physical well being. It’s also helped open my eyes and made me much more aware of all the good people out there. I appreciate all of you and your support.

I’ll try to post again before we head out to St. Louis Friday morning, but after that, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from me for a few days. I’m thinking I may not feel real well after I get my initial treatments.

I finished up my radiation treatments today and I actually felt better today than I have for a few days. I guess leaving work early and trying to take care of myself has helped. I'm still amazed at the quality of people we've met and continue to meet throughout this ordeal. The radiation tech's are just incredible people and both times we've finished treatments we feel like we're leaving friends. Also, there's a young man that manages the valet parking at the Peet Center (where I go for radiation) and he's been there for both rounds of radiation and any other time we need to go to the Center. He's planning on being in St. Louis while I'll be there and he asked for contact information so he could visit while he's there. Amazing.
Of course family's always there. My sister-in-laws and mother-in-law are keeping me in food while Tida's been needing to work late hours this week. I know it's a relief to Tida knowing that I'm getting fed, especially since the radiation has caused me to lose several pounds this week even while I'm trying to eat.
I'm going to try to relax this weekend, watch a lot of football and NASCAR, and build my strength up for next week.

The last few days have been kind of rough. I've been really tired, and didn't go to work today after radiation because I was so tired and just didn't feel well at all. These are some of the symptoms to be expected from radiation. I just feel lucky I haven't experienced them earlier, and I only have three more treatments to go.
I'll still try to get some pictures posted, but I'm just resting as much as possible right now.

I hadn’t realized it’d been so long since I posted anything, and I’ve been “scolded” more than once that I hadn’t updated my blog. There’s obviously been a lot going on since my post of the 15th. My dad’s visitation and funeral were Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th. Both were very well attended and we received several comments about the services. I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion how great the folks I work with are. My family was absolutely amazed at how many Bank people showed up at the visitation and funeral, and how many cards and donations were received. Again, these are very special people that I’m very fond of.

I started radiation treatment Monday the 21st for the spot in my lower back. The “myeloma deposit” is away from the spine, on the sacrum, with tissue growth in and around the bone. This guy’s been pretty determined. He’s been growing since at least April, and continued to grow throughout the chemo therapy. In case you’re wondering, no I haven’t named him; I don’t want to give him that much respect, but he is tough! They’re not being as careful with the dosage of radiation as they were when it was located directly on my spine. I’m getting roughly twice the dosage this time as I received the first time; but only 10 scheduled treatments and no steroids. Dr. Wall thought I’d start receiving relief from the pain by the end of the first week, and I think I can feel some difference. I’ve been really tired since I started treatments, so I don’t know if it’s directly related to the radiation; the fact that life’s been a little hectic the last several weeks; or a combination. Regardless, I still have a good attitude and had some folks laughing a bit at work explaining some of the “equipment” I acquired while in St. Louis.

This weekend I’ll try to give a little more info on the St. Louis trip, include some pictures of the aforementioned equipment and the process of collecting my stem cells. In the meantime, as always, no worries. If you don’t hear from me, I’m just busy, tired, or both; never down, it will never get me down!

The growth factor injection I received yesterday afternoon (mozibil) kind of messed with me. I was extremely tired and my stomach was messed up all day today. Pheresis (stem cell collection) started at 8:00 a.m. My doctor had a goal of collecting 5-8 million stem cells and the nurses set me up for 4 1/2 hours of collection. It was pretty boring, but they have individual tv's, so I got my morning fix of espn followed by Law & Order re-runs. Tida took some pictures but we don't have the cable to download them to the computer, so I'll post them later.
The nurses told us yesterday that even though we had to be there at 4:45 for the daily mozibil injection, we may not know if we needed it until 6:00 p.m. unless we received a call telling us we'd collected enough. I hadn't received a call prior to 4:45, so we headed to the pheresis department for the injection. I was pretty bummed because I didn't want another mozibil injection. At about 5:00, the charge nurse from the previous night called me to the desk and told me I'd collected enough! Shortly after that I got a call confirming the results and they told me I'd collected 14.19 million cells. Needless to say we were pretty happy, but at the same time we were sad for at least 2 of the other patients I shared the injection and collection rooms with. They're both older and have some other medical issues, and it looked like they were going to have to go through at least one more day of mozibil and collection.
We'll start home tomorrow. Services for my dad are Friday night and Saturday, so we'll be able to get home in time for those without any problem.

My dad passed away yesterday afternoon. I’m told it was very peaceful, which is all we could really hope for. My family’s doing pretty good and they’re hoping to hold off with services until we get home.
Today was really long. It started at 7:15 with blood work, then 8:00 growth factors. The growth factors I’ve been taking cause fatigue, restlessness at night, and aching bones, all of which I’ve had to some degree. So I’ve been a little tired. At 11:00 I started the procedure to have a catheter placed in my left chest. That took until 1:00, and I wasn’t supposed to eat or drink prior to the procedure, so I was a little hungry too. At 4:45 I was scheduled to get another growth factor injection. It was explained that the injections I’ve been getting since Friday are to make the stem cells grow, and the one I got this afternoon was to force those new stem cells out of the bone marrow into the blood stream. The thing they didn’t tell us was that the injection didn’t take place until 6:00, and then they had to watch me for 30 minutes to make sure there weren’t any side effects. All in all, a long day.
Tomorrow I start getting the stem cells harvested, a process called pheresis. They’ll hook my catheter tubes up to the apheresis machine; it’ll start taking my blood out, and the apheresis machine separates the stem cells from the rest of the blood. The stem cells are collected at the bottom of the collection canister, and the rest of the blood’s given back to me. The daily process can take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours and there’s a pre-determined amount of stem cells for each patient that their doctor wants collected. My doctor wants 5 million stem cells, so hopefully I’ll get the at least that amount tomorrow and can come home. We have to go to the office every night to be ready for our 6:00 injection, because we may not have the results of the collection prior to that. So even if I get the 5 million tomorrow, I still won’t come home until Wednesday.
I’m pretty tired tonight, so I’m going to watch some Monday Night Football and fall asleep, for awhile anyway!

I know it's been a while since I've posted again, but I haven't felt much like talking about myself lately (I’ll get into that later). I'm sitting in the hotel room in St. Louis tonight having received the first stem cell growth factor injection. The day started with lab work at 8:15, then a growth factor injection at 9:00, and an evaluation for the stem cell harvest at 1:30. Everything went fine and no side effects from the injection. The most common side effects are pain and swelling at the injection site and bone pain. Like I said nothing so far, but again, they say the cumulative effects are what gets most people. I'll get growth factor injections Saturday and Sunday, then on Monday, I have lab work at 7:15; get an injection at 8:00; have a catheter placed in my chest at 11:00; then get another type of injection at 4:45. Tuesday starts the harvest portion and may need to continue throughout the week depending on how many cells they get. I'll get more into detail on that as the week progresses.

The reason I hadn't blogged this past week was that Friday the 4th, my dad was admitted to the hospital, and we were there with him most days until late. He hadn't been eating or drinking much for several weeks and was losing strength, then the 4th he lost almost any strength he had remaining and one of his doctors recommended he be admitted for monitoring. To make a week-long story as short as possible, he’s been declining steadily and as we left town for St. Louis last night, was put under hospice care in the hospital because they don’t think he could withstand the move home or to a facility. We don’t expect him to make it much longer and it was extremely difficult having to leave knowing we probably wouldn’t see him again, but my condition requires we not delay treatment. I hated having to leave my family; not that they can’t handle anything that comes up, but families are supposed to be together during situations like this.

I’ll keep you posted on both fronts as information comes available. I’m still positive about my treatment. As we left the evaluation session for the transplant, I told Tida that I was even more sure I would come through that portion without any problems than I was before we went in, so no worries!

I met with the doctor yesterday and got the results of last weeks MRI to determine the cause of the pain in my lower back. The doctor I met with was different from my regular doctor because she’s off “having” a baby (they adopted). This doctor’s the head of the hematology oncology department at the center. It’s been determined that it’s another tumor, and the radiologist says it appears to be a myeloma deposit. The doctor said it would be very strange for it to be a different kind of cancer, but it’s also strange that the tumor seemed to grow while I was undergoing the chemo and steroid treatments. It was also brought up that my blood work seemed normal and there was no sign of the M-Protein, again indicators there was nothing cancerous going on. I mentioned that my case had been a little strange all along, and he just grinned and said he knew, he’d been aware of my case from the beginning!

I’d just received my schedule from the Siteman Center in St. Louis Wednesday and sent back all my consent forms, but that schedule may now be in jeopardy. Dr. Gaur here in K.C. is going to talk to Dr. Vig in St. Louis to determine what action to take. The radiologist says he can radiate the new growth, and we know that myeloma reacts well to radiation, but radiation can also burn the bone marrow, which provides the stem cells I need to have harvested. So we don’t want to do anything to damage the bone marrow before harvesting.

This stuff seems to keep coming at me, but I’m up for the challenge. I’m taking it all in stride, just another little hurdle I’ll get past and proceed onward. I still feel good most of the time except for that occasional little pain in the back. But then, I’ve been a pain in a lower region for some time now, so I guess what goes around comes around, huh?! We’ll see what the doc’s come up with and I’ll keep you posted.

Today was my last chemo infusion treatment! I’ll still take the oral chemo pill through Sunday, and there are a couple of other pills the doctor wants me to continue taking for a week, but the end of this stage is clearly in sight. My schedule for St. Louis still hasn’t been finalized. I’ve got a spot on my lower back that’s caused periodic discomfort, okay pain, and they’re scheduling an MRI for that. I’ll have lab work here September 3rd, and an Aredia infusion September 10th. Somewhere in there I’ll need to go to St. Louis for lab work and possibly a bone marrow biopsy, and we’ve got a tentative date of September 11th to start growth factors and harvesting of stem cells.
I thought I’d have some down time before the next phase started, but it doesn’t look like I'll have as much as I thought. Regardless, I’m looking forward to the next steps, getting this behind me and coming out clean on the other side!

Again it's been too long since I've posted. My treatements have been going fine; had one this morning and only have 1 left! I've been keeping busy; the weekend of the 8th we went to a family reunion in Iowa, saw family that we only see once a year and had a really nice time visiting with everyone. This past weekend we took a couple of our nieces to the Butterfly Festival at Powell Gardens, and again had a great time. My energy level seems to be getting better, I can do more for longer periods of time without getting exhausted.
I've been thinking lately about how blessed I am to have the people surrounding me I have. All the prayers and support are definitely helping me; I'm getting stronger and feeling more positive all the time. Each of you, many I've never met or communicated with, have a part in my continuing improvement, and I offer prayers of thanks for you nightly. You're all very special people.
After Thursdays treatment, we'll start making some definite plans for the next steps in St. Louis. I'll let you know the schedule when it gets finalized.

Here's a quick between-cycles update. I had a doctors appointment today and everything's looking good. Just one more cycle before finalizing plans to go to St. Louis.
Mom and dad are both doing better, though dad's improvement is much slower. He's on oxygen now and requires the use of a walker. He's still pretty weak and isn't eating as much as he probably should. He has therapists come in a few times a week, and they seem to see some improvement, so that's a good sign.
Last cycle starts Monday, so just a few days of freedom from the juice left!

It’s been way too long since I’ve posted, but it’s been kinda crazy. My treatments are going fine, I’ve got the last treatment of this cycle tomorrow, and no side effects of any kind!

The crazy part is that last Thursday both my parents were admitted to the hospital. My mom had a rapid heart rate that the doctor said was like she’d been running a marathon for 3 hours. They got her stabilized, ended up putting in a pacemaker Friday and released her Saturday. She’s doing much better now, just a little tired. After my dad got mom settled and parked the car, he went up to mom’s room, started not communicating clearly and ended up passing out. They checked him out and his heart was fine. They decided he passed out due to stress, exertion, and low blood pressure. While they were doing the tests, however, they found some other things that didn’t look quite right that required some follow up. He’s had some kind of test run almost daily and had two more tests run today. We don’t have results from all the tests so there’s not a complete picture of what’s going on. He generally feels pretty good but doesn’t have much strength and isn’t eating much at all. He was discharged this afternoon and we got him home, so hopefully things will somewhat get back to normal!

Just a quick update. I started the 3rd cycle of chemo today and again everything went smoothly. The break off chemo and steroids isn't nearly long enough, but the cycles seem to go pretty quickly.
I'm still feeling good and looking forward to the end of this part of the treatment.

I finished the 2nd cycle of chemo last Thursday without any problems. The trip to the Siteman Center in St. Louis Tuesday was tiring if uneventful. It started with lab work - 15 tubes of blood drawn - at 7:45. Results were fine, the nurse said I looked like the picture of health. At 8:30 we met with Dr. Vij. What we learned was that he'd planned on me completing 4 cycles of chemo here all along before beginning transplant, and that the M-Protein didn't really matter, as long as none of the indicators went up dramatically. So I've got 2 more 21 day cycles of chemo, then I'll need to go back to Siteman for labs; get a week or two break; go to Siteman for growth factors to build my stem cells; have my stem cells harvested; then start transplant. The schedule works out for transplant to start the last week of September or the first week of October.

At 9:30 I had a skeletal survey - x-rays from head to toe. At 10:30 I had a chest x-ray and EKG. I didn't get any results of x-rays, but the EKG was normal. At 2:30 I had an RVG (heart test) where I got 2 injections then they took 3 pictures of my heart that took about 10 minutes each. Again, no results. Then at 3:30 I had a PFT (breathing test). I don't remember how many different tests they had me perform, I just know that I never realized breathing could be so tiring. At least I passed those tests!

So we thought the results of Tuesdays tests would determine if I was ready for transplant or not, when in reality it had be pre-determined I'd go through 2 more cycles. Dr. Vij explained that they've had more success with at least 4 cycles of chemo before transplant. At least now we have a tentative schedule and can do some planning, and since I haven't had an issues with the chemo, and there's a better chance of success, I'm good with it.

The 3rd cycle starts Monday the 20th, so I've got just a few days left of being off the juice!

I had the third treatment in my second cycle of chemo today and everything went well again. Lab work still looks good, no side effects, and I still feel great. They'll test my protein levels sometime after the last treatment in this cycle Thursday. If my M-Protein's 0.00 or better (it's been 0.2), then this portion of treatment will be over, and we'll look forward to the stem cell transplant portion of treatment.

We go to St. Louis Monday afternoon for a day of testing Tuesday to determine if I'll be strong enough to handle the stem cell transplant. I have no doubts about passing the tests, so we'll just need to wait for the results of the M-Protein to see when the transplant portion begins. I'd forgotten that the baseball allstar game is Tuesday in St.Louis, and we hadn't made any arrangement's yet for Monday night, but we got lucky and everything's set.

I had my chemo treatment today, but didn't have the long session I'd expected. The drug I thought I was getting that takes 2 hours to infuse, is supposed to be administered once a month. A month from the last time I got it will be next week. So everything went real smooth today, lab work was good again, and I was there less than an hour.

I don't know if it was a coincidence, but I had conversations with my doctor, nurses, and the manager of the clinics in the last couple of days about the mix up in filling the Revlimid prescription and some other issues we'd had. Today everything was ready when I got there and the session went as advertised before I started.

I still feel great, and I know it's due in no small part to all the prayers and support I'm receiving from everyone. Your support gives me just that more drive and fight to beat this. Thank you all!

Time for a long overdue update. My 9 days off of treatment went really well and towards the end of the off time I felt almost normal. Last Saturday we went to my parents house to do some yard work. I got tired easy, especially when I was in the sun, but I paced myself and took breaks when needed. We only spent about 2 1/2 hours working, went home, got cleaned up, then went shopping. I think it did me a lot of good to get out and actually do something that required some effort.

My second round of chemo started Monday and went well. I went in to work afterwards like normal, and felt great. There was a mix up on my oral chemo drug, Revlimid, so I won't start it until Thursday. I'm feeling really good right now, so maybe it's been the Revlimid that causes me to feel "fuzzy" sometimes. My longer treatment session is tomorrow, so we'll see how I feel after that. I'm just enjoying being "normal" while I can!

Before I give you my update today, a group of folks from work extended a very touching gesture to us recently that caused me to reflect a lot over the past few days of my more than 28 years at Blue Ridge Bank. I’ve always felt that I was led to be at Blue Ridge Bank. Not that I haven’t thought about trying something else over the years, but each time I’d get that feeling, a new door would open up offering new challenges, and I’d be satisfied for a few more years. What’s resulted is that I’m now in a position that feels like a perfect fit for me and offers new challenges constantly. I’ve been in this position longer than any other I’ve had, and still enjoy it daily.

My reflection goes back to my early days at the Bank and the quality of people that set examples of ethics and treating people with respect. These are the people that made Blue Ridge Bank special and welcomed you to the family. Many of these folks have been in touch with me through email or cards and are following my “adventure” and offering their support, and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. As one of the few remaining ties to that generation, I feel a responsibility to set the same examples they set so BRB can remain a special place to work. I don’t know that I’m doing a very good job, but it’s good to know that someone is. Almost daily I receive a phone call or email from someone I may not have talked to for several weeks at work, letting me know they’re thinking about me. These are the kind of caring people I recall from the old days and reminds me how blessed I am to be at Blue Ridge Bank.

Okay, my update. I had my last treatment in this cycle Friday morning and so far no bad side effects. Everything was going smoothly during the treatment until they were ready to release me. When they removed the IV from the port-a-cath, the nurse noticed some discharge. She took a culture sample, got the doctor, and they decided I needed to have some antibiotics in case I’d acquired an infection. The site’s not sore at all, but I’ll need to watch it for any changes. If it turns out to be infected, they may need to remove the port-a cath, which I presume would mean IV’s through the arm again. We’ll hope for no infection.

I don’t have any treatments now until June 29th, and I’m looking forward to the break!

I had my second treatment yesterday and it didn't go quite as smoothly as the first. I started out getting blood drawn and they needed the results from the lab before they proceeded with any treatment. They said it would take 10-15 minutes to get results, but took almost an hour. All the results were good, everything in the normal range. Then they started in with the pre-meds, then the chemo. They decided to give me the infusion to help strengthen my bones, and help with bone lesions next. That took 2 hours! Then we finished up with more fluids for about 10 minutes. So we got started around 9:00 a.m. and didn't get finished until almost 1:30 p.m. Not that it was hard work or anything, I even took a couple of naps during the treatment, but I was wiped out afterwards. I went in to work for about 3 hours and didn't get much accomplished. I just felt sort of fuzzy and out of it. After I got home I took about a 45 minute nap and felt totally fine, almost like a normal person. I don't know if it was all the stuff they put in me, the sitting around for 4 hours, or a combination of the two that wiped me out, but I feel good today.
Next week I have treatments Tuesday and Friday again. They should just be the normal stuff, about 4o minutes in the chair, so hopefully I won't be so out of it afterwards!

Today was my my first chemo treatment, and it went really well. I only had the chemo infusion, not the one that's for the prevention of brittle and broken bones and is supposed to take about an hour and a half. There wasn't anything in the file in the infusion room indicating to administer it today and Dr. Hart had my main file with her at her other office. I'll probably get that one on Friday now with my regular chemo.

Tida forgot her camera today, so we had to resort to the camera on my phone for her "documentary" pictures. Please forgive the subject matter of the pictures, I only have so much to work with!

The first one is just a shot of the "room" I was in. The infusion room consists of 26 (I think) areas separated by curtains that have a comfortable chair for the patient, another side chair for a visitor, and a stool for the nurse administering the treatment. I went in with four other 8:00 patients, got to select the room I wanted, and waited for the nurse. Since this was my first visit, we went over the procedure, had to sign some more consent forms, then started in.





I didn't explain the port-a-cath yesterday, but the top part of the port-a-cath just under the skin is titanium, is about a half inch in diameter and has a mesh-like surface. Beyond that is a catheter that goes through the vein towards the heart. For the treatment the nurse feels for the surface of the port-a-cath, then inserts a special needle attached to the IV. When it's removed, the mesh area seals up. There was very minimal pain, even with just having the device implanted yesterday and having the surgical wound still healing. The nurse said there was no redness around the incision and it looked like it was healing well. This is going to be much better than having to get IV's for every treatment, especially if I have to go through 3 or 4 cycles of treatments. The other positive is the port-a-cath can be used for most of the lab work I'll need, and I'll need a lot of lab work, so hopefully not much more drawing blood from the arms for awhile. This picture shows the special needle inserted and attached to the IV.




This next shot is of the nurse flushing the line, making sure everything is working right, Then she injected pre-meds, drugs to help prevent nausea, and some other fluids.





This picture is the infusion of the hard stuff, the velcade and decadron.




The whole therapy process took about 40 minutes, which is what they had estimated. It took about 15-20 minutes for the pre-meds and the first round of fluids; 5 seconds, yes seconds, for the chemo push; then another 10-15 minutes for the second dose of fluids.

The oral chemo drug, Revlimid, was delivered mid afternoon, and I'll take it tonight with another one that right now I don't even remember what it's for. I went my whole life without taking anything stronger than Excedrin, and now I'm taking so many drugs I don't know what it's all for. Tida's marked the calendar so we know when I'm supposed to take what! Since it was so late getting the Revlimid, I didn't go into work today, but I probably feel better today than I have for a few days. Steroids at work I'm sure. I'm still being realistic. Having talked to cancer patients and survivors, I know it's common to feel good the day of therapy, it's the next day or so that kicks you in the backside. Then there's always the cumulative effect of the drugs: the more treatments the more side effects.

Still, I'm positive about getting these cycles of chemo finished, staying strong, and preparing for the next "event".

I had an 8:30 check-in this morning for my 10:00 port-a-cath procedure. Once again, radiology at St. Luke's was running on a different clock than the rest of the world. Once it got started, everything went fine, and they said it couldn't have gone better. Tida, always at the ready with her camera, took a picture of the "smart port ct" they implanted in my upper chest.




We finally left the hospital at about 12:30, had lunch, filled a couple of prescriptions, then made it to my primary physician for a pneumonia vaccine, because one of the drugs I'll be taking makes me susceptible to pneumonia.

I have my first chemo treatment first thing in the morning. I'll get velcade, a chemo drug, and decadron, a steroid through the port-a-cath, then revlemid, a fairly new drug for multiple myeloma I'll take orally. The revlimid is highly controlled and it's not available through the pharmacy, they're delivering to the house tomorrow afternoon.

I'm not supposed to have a lot of side effects, but with all the different drugs I'll be taking, there seem to be a lot of opportunities!

So far I think all my posts have been about me. Tonight I want to make it about you. I want to thank everyone who's been following my progress and supporting us with your thoughts and prayers. We have a ton of support from our friends and family, both locally and throughout the country, and Tida's participation in an email group has some wonderful folks from all over the world supporting us. I've even received a "care package" from Australia!

This kind of support is unbelievable and causes me to get emotional every time we get a note or email from one of you. You're all amazing, especially because we know that many of you are suffering or have struggles of your own that dwarf ours.

Tida's boss Jeff is doing his endurance ride this weekend. Here's pictures of the bibs he's wearing:

Let's all be thinking about Jeff and his team this weekend as they ride 100 miles to raise money for finding a cure for blood cancers.

Hopefully next year I'll be able to bug all of you to donate for my ride to wipe out cancer!

We saw Dr. Hart, my hematology oncologist today to review results from the Siteman Center. Everything was pretty much as expected. General blood work was normal; my monoclonal, or M protein (one of the indicators used to monitor myeloma) was unchanged at 0.2. The higher the m protein, the more active the disease. The goal is to get the m protein to 0, so unchanged at 0.2 is good for now. The bone marrow biopsy indicated several chromosomal abnormalities, but no deletion of chromosome 13 or 17. Tida says she now has scientific proof that I'm abnormal. Funny girl.
So now it's time to start the next round of treatment. Dr. Hart said that Dr. Vij from Siteman was recently a speaker at a national conference on myeloma, is considered one of the top myeloma doctors around, and is on the leading edge of research and treatment, so she completely backs his recommendations.
I get a port-a-cath inserted in the upper chest near the clavicle on Monday. This will ease the administration of the chemo therapy and eliminate the need for IV's every 4 days. Chemo starts Tuesday morning. My schedule will be chemo every 4 days, off for 10 days, then start the cycle over again. It's anticipated that I'll need 2-4 cycles. Once the m protein reaches 0, we'll start preparing for a stem cell transplant. I'll receive 4 days of treatment to boost stem cell production, then 1 to 3 days to harvest enough stem cells for 2 transplants.
Once the stem cells have been harvested, I'll undergo high dose chemo meant to eliminate my bone marrow and immune system. Once it's been determined this process has been successful, they'll re-infuse my stem cells and start building back up my marrow and immune system. I'll be in isolation for 2 to 3 weeks during this stage, followed by a recuperation period at home.
Some pretty heavy stuff, and a far cry from what we expected back in March when we were thinking that radiation might be the end of treatment, but I'm still positive. In fact, I probably feel more positive today than I have for a couple of weeks. We finally have a diagnosis and a plan now that all the doctors are on and are confident of.
Now, it's game on. I'm ready!

I had x-rays of my back taken Wednesday morning, then delivered the film to the neurosurgeon. The doctor said everything looked good, of course, he still wants me to wear the back brace. Good times.



Here's a couple of pictures of the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis. Tida took some other pictures and videos of my procedures, but we don't need to share those!

On a diferent but related subject, Tida's boss sent her an email in early Febraury, before we knew all this stuff about me, that follows. The timing's a little eerie:

I was recently informed of an amazing story about a friend of mine Jeff Davidson and his expression of love and determination to help his son Zach fight the effects of Leukemia. Zach was diagnosed with Leukemia at age 3 and currently is in treatment and will be for roughly 2 more years. As a father of two children, I understand the emotions and stress parents go through when kids come down with the flu or get injured due to accidents. However, I cannot imagine the internal strength and faith Jeff has to possess each day to manage through his son's illness.
Jeff is actively involved with "Team in Training", a sports training program with more than 380,000 participants raising money to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Team In Training (TNT)has grown to become an unparalleled sports training program, from first timers to seasoned athletes. Participants train with the Team to achieved their best at marathons, half marathons, triathlons, 100-mile century bike rides and hiking adventures. Jeff and Zach's story has inspired me to get involved and join Team in Training so I can participate and raise money for the many families fighting this disease. I know Jeff and his family are in an ongoing battle to beat this and when I was asked to get involved, I couldn't say no?
I will be training for a 100 mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe the first of June and this is no trivial ride by any means. There will be a considerable amount of time and effort to prepare for this event, but considering the challenges that Zach faces each day, it makes this journey seem so attainable. I am asking for your help through financial support so I can reach my personal goal of $6,500 for blood cancer research.
Please use the link in this email to quickly and securely donate online. You will receive a confirmation of your donation by email and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation.
http://pages.teamintraining.org/mid/ambbr09/jhicksyxhe
Each donation helps accelerate finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. More than 823,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers. I am hoping that my participation in Team In Training will help bring them hope and support.
On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your support. I greatly appreciate your generosity.

Jeff''s lowered his goal to $4,500 and he's getting close, but time's running out. He made a comment to Tida that he was going to put my name on his shirt during the ride. I don't now if he'll really do it, but just the thought is totally unexpected and very touching.

We're back from St. Louis and the Siteman Cancer Center, it was a fast turnaround. First, a couple of things I forgot to mention in earlier posts. The results from Mayo of the soft tissue at L-3 and L-4 came back, and it seems it's the same as C-4 & 5 after all. So only one kind of cancer to worry about. Also, I'd been taking Ambien to help me sleep, but it totally messed with my moods and emotions, so I quit that and started taking an over the counter sleep aid. My mood changed back almost immediately, my emotions are in check again and I'm still sleeping pretty well, so I'll stick with that as long as I can.

Okay, Siteman. I got 5 vials of blood drawn around 7:30 a.m., then met with Dr. Vij around 8:15. He reviewed my history, previous test results, etc. and has come to the same conclusion as Dr. Hart: that I have multiple myeloma. He definitely knows his multiple myeloma and we ended up wishing we would've recorded everything he said, there was just so much information. After meeting with Dr. Vij I had another bone marrow biopsy and they drew another 5 vials of blood. They wanted to use some of the biopsy for research along with a skin sample, so after the biopsy was complete they "punched" a sample of skin around the incision site. I was totally sedated so I don't remember any of it. Probably a good thing!

We're supposed to get results of the blood work and biopsy no later than June 2nd, then meet with Dr.Hart on the 4th to review everything and presumably decide on a treatment plan and schedule. I'm assuming I'll start chemo very soon after that. The whole treatment plan for multiple myeloma is pretty extensive, and it sounds like I'm going to have an interesting summer.

Wednesday morning I have x-rays and an appointment with the neurosurgeon. I get another break from doctors for about a week after that!

I had my PET scan today, and because Dr. Hart wanted the results available for the Siteman Center in St. Louis Tuesday, they read the scan and I was able to pickup up a disc to take with us. There were no surprises, everything that had shown up on the previous MRI showed up on the PET, but nothing new. Good news! There is a "new" lesion on he right hip, that I don't think I'd mentioned earlier. The doctors had mentioned it as an area to watch on the MRI, but I don't remember anyone actually saying it was a lesion. A little denial maybe?

I was fitted for a back brace Monday to support the T-12 area. I'm not happy about it at all, but I'm wearing it almost as much as the neurosurgeon requested. It's much larger than I'd expected, but the original brace they were going to fit for me was even larger with a big metal brace in front that would've restricted a lot of movement. I probably wouldn't have been able to drive, so I guess what I have isn't all bad.

Dr. Hart shared a story with me this afternoon about my first PET scan that had shown spots in my lungs, but nothing in the lungs showed on any MRI's. There was a nationally known PET scan expert lecturing in the area and one of the topics was some rare false positives. The head PET scan guy at St. Luke's shared my history with him, and it turns out my case is classic for the false positives. They gave the lecturer all my scans, etc. and I'm going to be in the medical journals. At least I'll be famous for a false positive and not the other way around!

We leave for the Siteman Cancer Center late Monday afternoon. I'll start with lab work around 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, meet with the doctor at 8:00, then I'm scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy at 9:30. Not sure what the rest of the day will hold, but if I get morphine for the biopsy I probably won't care! We're looking forward to hopefully getting some consensus on a treatment plan and getting it started.

Well, I've waited quite a while to post because I thought I'd wait for some results to share. We still don't have results, but I'll give you an update anyway. The week or so after my last post was a little emotional and difficult for Tida and I. The unexpected and unknown news just seemed to hit us harder than in the past. I've recovered from that and I think Tida has, a little anyway. I've got the gloves back on and ready to go a few more rounds.

I've got some appointments this week. Lab work; fitting for a back brace to support the T-12 area (courtesy of the neurosurgeon-we'll see what it's like, I may be kind of stubborn about it); an appointment with the hematology oncologist; and a PET scan on Friday. It'll be a little busy, but I'll still be able to work at least some every day except one.

Then next week, we have an appointment at the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis for a second opinion. We'll start early Tuesday morning with lab work, then meet with the doctor. After that, it's up to him whether we have more tests run or not. We anticipate being there just one day, but they've told us we may need to come back Wednesday. We're just looking forward to trying to get a consensus on what's going on, then starting whatever treatment is required.

My hematology oncologist is weaning me off the steroids getting ready for any tests at Siteman. Normally I'd be okay with that, I just hope the leg pain doesn't come back in the meantime. I've had a little lower back pain that a few months ago I would've just accepted as my normal back issues, but now, we have to wonder if it's associated with the T-12 or lumbar areas. It seems to loosen up as the day goes on, so I think it's just a muscle issue, but it's frustrating that we even need to question it. Guess it's just the new reality.

I'll try to be a little more active in updating. I know there's a lot of interest, and so many of you are supporting us in all kinds of ways. Our neighbors continue to be incredible, and continue to do unexpected things for us. Again, all the support is overwhelming and there's no words to express our gratitude.

Today didn't get started as planned. We arrived at the neurosurgeons office only to be told that he was called into emergency surgery that could take most of the day. That left about 2 1/2 hours to kill before the next appointment.


When we arrived for the next appointment, we were told they had us on the calendar for tomorrow. Excellent! They said they would call the nurse and see what could be done. Long story short, we were able to go ahead with the procedure, we just started about an hour late, still much better than having to go back tomorrow. The doctor had planned on performing biopsy's on both hips, but everyone felt she got good enough samples that only one side was necessary.

Prior to the procedure we had a lengthy discussion regarding my status, planned treatments, etc. Because of the occurrence of the new lesion at L-3, and the continued activity at T-12, Dr. Hart believes I have "declared" and now have multiple myeloma. My blood work continues to look good, but with the negative bone marrow report and spinal activity, she's ready to say I have myeloma. She's ready to start a systemic (chemo) treatment plan pretty quickly. We discussed a second opinion, which she's completely open to and has helped with recommendations. She's willing to wait on the chemo a couple of weeks until the second opinion is complete.

A couple of other things. The pain in my leg has gone away since I started taking steroids again. Since this type of cancer is treated very well with steroids, it's possible they may stick with just steroids and not do any radiation. Also, the fact that the tissue sample taken from L-3 appears to be different from the original sample in C-4 has made the doctors step back a little. The words that were used were: "it's very weird", and "it's one for the ages". So once again, just when we thought we might be on a track that everyone agreed on, my "uniqueness" comes out and we need to figure out what's going on. Dr. Hart's supposed to call tonight to give us some information on the tissue samples; I'm sure if they really are different, that may change treatment plans.

I've gotten used to rolling with the punches, my chin's still up, and we'll just take it all a day at a time.

Again, thanks for all your prayers and support! We love you all!

When I last left you, we'd gotten some results that were relayed via phone but didn't tell us a whole lot, other than we need more testing. So the testing began today. we started out checking in at 7:30 a.m. for bone biopsy's on T-12 and L-3&4. They started out with L-3&4 since there was soft tissue and they wanted to get it to the pathologist while they worked on T-12. Everything went well, much better than the experience we had back in March. The pathologist said they got a good sample, but it looks like different tissue than in the C-5 region. Also, it looked like the tissue was restricted to L-3 only. The T-12 sample was okay, but they said the bone sample was "mushy".
We had a couple of hours off, then met with the radiation oncologist who reviewed the MRI results from last week (we got to see some of the MRI's which helped). He anticipates beginning radiation treatments this week on T-12 & C-3. While we were there he ran a CT scan to locate everything he needs to radiate and get me "marked". He doesn't think the I'll have as many treatments, maybe 10-14, to make sure he doesn't damage too much bone marrow in anticipation of some future treatments with bone marrow.
Tomorrow I'll meet with the neurosurgeon to see if there's anything he needs to do at T-12; the bone marrow biopsy's on both hips; then I'm finishing up with a dentist appointment if I have time. Whoda thunk I'd be looking forward to the dentist!
I'll try to give you an update tomorrow night!

So the Adventure continues. We got results of tests today, so I'll start at the top. The mass in the neck (C5) is almost completely gone. It's small enough that if it they hadn't known it was there, they wouldn't have commented on it. Good news. The lesion on T12 indicated a small pathological fracture, but it was small enough that the medical hematology oncologist couldn't locate it on the MRI, so she's going to refer me to the neurosurgeon to get his opinion. There's no pain associated with it, so I don't anticipate any treatment at this time.
Then there was some unexpected news. When I had the bone marrow biopsy several weeks ago, they told us it could take some time to get the results. When we got the early results that came back good, we forgot there were still results to come in. Well, they came in and indicated some chromosomal defects. There was one defect in particular that indicates that I'll relapse at some time. The doctor says I still don't have multiple myeloma, but I will. She recommended we get a second opinion, so we'll look at our options, probably Siteman at Washington University in St. Louis, or M.D. Anderson in Houston.
The other thing that's come up is the pain in my left leg that started in December that I thought was eliminated with a cortisone shot in January. The pain started up again Monday night, so I've got another MRI scheduled for next week to see if anythings going on there.
So, just as we thought life might be "normal" for awhile, it looks like we still have some work to do.
Keep the prayers and support coming, and you know I'll keep fighting!

I had blood drawn and an MRI today. Everything went as planned. The MRI took about an hour and a half and I actually fell asleep a couple of times during it! We're supposed to get results Thursday, so I'll let you know what we find out then.

It's been a while since I've updated you, so here's a quickie. I've been working pretty much normal hours the last couple of weeks. Some days I take off 15-30 minutes early, some days I work late, so other than leaving early, it's been pretty normal. I caught a cold about a week ago, so that's slowed me down a bit, but I think I've about kicked it. I have blood work and an MRI scheduled for Monday the 20th, so I'll let you know how that all goes.
Again, I thank everyone for all the support, it's definitely working!

Today was occupational therapy and follow-up with the hematologist. OT went well. The right arm is still weak, but testing was positive. They grade on a 1-5 scale, 5 being "normal" strength, being able to resist pressure. All tests came back at least 4, so I only have one more OT session, then continue to do home therapy twice a day!
The follow-up with the hematologist was mostly positive too. The results from the biopsy didn't show anything that would give us definite answers. The thought right now is that there was a lesion at T12, but the steroids may have treated the lesion, and that's why nothing showed up. The plan right now is no additional treatments of any kind, follow up with an MRI in 2 1/2 weeks along with more blood work, and see what shows up then. I'll be tested quite regularly for awhile, but I'll gladly go through periodic testing rather than having to deal with treatments.
I've got a break now from doctors and treatments, so I'm going to start living a more normal life, meaning I probably won't post much during that period. I'm sure no one wants to hear me talk about work everyday!

I'm officially done with radiation treatments on the neck! We met with my radiation oncologist after my treatment and he thought we'd be finished, but he was presenting my case to their conference later in the day and he wanted input from other docs. Based on everything they knew, it was agreed that we should do no more treatments! Also, I'm being weened off the steroids pretty quickly - I should be off them completely next week. They say the fatigue could really set in then, so I'll have to watch it.
So now we try to figure out what's going on in the T12 region of the lower spine. We got some news on that today too, but it was the typical news we've been getting all along. They said that nothing "evil" showed up on the biopsy results, but they don't think they got enough tissue samples. What?! Everything we went through that day, and they still didn't get enough samples?
The medical/hematology doctor was presenting my case to another conference this afternoon, and we anticipate that I'll need to get another biopsy on T12, but it'll be done with a different group than the last one. We meet with her tomorrow, so we'll find out more then.
Thankfully I have work. Another 6 hour day and I got a lot accomplished. It's really good to get in there, I can't wait to start working a more normal schedule.

Today was treatment 21 of the scheduled 22! They still may add 2 or 3 "booster" treatments depending on the results of yesterdays biopsy, but we won't know for sure for a few days. I think I forgot to mention that the doctor started weening me off the steroids Monday. It should help me sleep - I got 5 hours sleep last night, a long time since I've had that much - but they say I could also have a lot of fatigue going off the steroids. We'll see what happens, I just want to get off them.
I had another good day at work. Put in a little over 6 hours, had a couple of meetings, got a lot accomplished and felt good.

Aaaarghhh!!!! What a day! First, it's been exactly 1 month since the tumor in the neck was diagnosed. I don't think I've ever had a more interesting and fast month, it's flown by and I can't believe everything that's happened.
Now today. It started out normal enough, with the 20th radiation treatment, then occupational therapy. We had a about an hour wait between therapy and the scheduled biopsy at 11:30. We showed up a little after 11:00 to check in, knowing by now that there's always paperwork to complete, and we just wanted to be on time and get the biopsy completed. We'd been told that this biopsy was supposed to be easier than the bone marrow biopsy, which took about an hour, so I was expecting to be done by 1:30 at the very latest. Anyway, we get to Radiology at exactly 11:30 so everything's good. Then we wait until 12:15 before they take me back to the prep room, where they draw some blood, ask some questions, and tell me to wait for a doctor. At about 1:10 an intern doctor came in to ask a couple of questions, but had no information because he's never seen this procedure before. Starting to get the picture? Finally at 2:00 the nurses rolled me into surgery and they started getting me ready. This process seemed almost chaotic. It sounded like there were 8 to 10 people in there hooking me up to all kinds of tubes, IV's, oxygen, patches and other stuff I wasn't sure about. I was lying on my stomach, so I couldn't see what was going on. They gave me meds that were supposed to sedate me, but I was almost completely alert throughout the procedure. When they were done, again I was alert, and asked the nurses if they could explain to me what the process was, and got the reply, "the doctor stuck a needle in your spine and withdrew 4 to 6 bone samples". Thanks guys, nice explanation. I never even met the surgeon that performed the procedure. It felt a little weird when it was happening. It was almost like there was a plunger - I could feel the needle, then I sensed the needle being pushed back and forth a few times with a little popping sound as, I have to presume, it hit the bone. The procedure took about 30 minutes. They had me rest in the OR for about 20 minutes, then moved me to a room at about 3:00. In the room I'm told that I'd be monitored for about 3 hours before being discharged! No way! I haven't eaten in over 20 hours now, am completely alert, and can walk on my own. They ended up feeding me, twice in the next 2 hours. They were supposed to check my vitals every 20 minutes until discharged, but they only checked them 3 times. They finally said they'd checked vitals at 5:30 and probably discharge me. Unfortunately I had just chewed some ice when they took my temperature and it wouldn't read, so the said they'd be right back to check it. At 6:10 we got the nurse and I told her I was going home, what do I need to sign to be discharged. Without a doubt the most frustrating day we've had so far.
The most disappointing part of it was the seeming lack of care today from the health care professionals. We've been so happy with everyone we've been in contact with in the St. Lukes system until today. It just seemed that everyone was distracted and didn't have the same level of care about their patients.
Regardless, the test is done, now we wait for the results. Hopefully we'll find out Friday.

I had a really good weekend and today completed radiation treatment #19 - only 3 more scheduled for now! Today was a "guilty" day. We've made some bonds with the other cancer patients at the treatment center. It seems there's a group of us that have the same appointment times daily and we've just come to be friendly and share something. This morning there were a couple of the ladies that were obviously in pain and suffering, enough so that they wouldn't give them treatment today. So there I am, dressed ready for work, feeling strong, and it just doesn't seem right to be viewed the same as these folks that are really suffering.
I had another good day at work, put in about 6 1/2 hours and felt great Tomorrow's a busy day. Radiation, occupational therapy, then a CT biopsy on the spine. The worst part is I can't eat after midnight tonight. I've been eating non-stop trying to maintain my weight, so not eating for over 12 hours plus having occupational therapy is going to be tough. I'll be putting it away tomorrow night!

Today was about the most "normal" day I've had since this whole thing started. Completed radiation treatment #18 this morning, then went to work. I got about 7 good hours in, got a lot done and felt great! You'll probably get tired of me telling you how great my staff is, but it just really makes me proud of how every one of them just steps up and does their job, no questions asked, no complaints. I think the best part of it is how everyone else at the bank is noticing all their work too, and their just getting so much respect!
So another good day, they just keep coming one after the other! Tonight we're going to an open house for a dear friend that just bought a new house, and we're looking forward to getting out and seeing some good friends.

Today was radiation treatment #17. They're winding down, only 5 more scheduled! I've mentioned I wasn't having any side effects, but now I've lost some of my taste buds. Not a big deal, but I really like my spicy, flavorful food, and I'm having a hard time tasting any of it. It seems like I need to eat almost constantly to try to maintain my weight, and not tasting all the flavor takes some of the fun out of it!
We met with the medical/hematology oncologist later in the morning to review results of the most recent tests. The most definitive answer we got was that I seem to be an enigma. The PET scan results had shown areas of cellular activity in both lungs and the 12th thoracic vertebra, which prompted the additional scans yesterday. The bone marrow biopsy came back negative, so that's a very good thing. All the blood and urine tests seem to be moving us away from any kind of lymphoma, another good thing, and all the results are indicating it's not multiple myeloma, which is incurable, so another very good thing. The doctor said she was surprised about the bone marrow results, she'd expected it to come back positive, and she was surprised about the the other areas of activity. Seems like she was expecting the opposite of what we got. They don't know what the spots in the lungs are. They're too small to biopsy, so we'll just have to monitor them right now and re-test often. The 12 thoracic vertebra has a lesion in the bone, and appears to be different from the tumor in the neck. So we'll get a biopsy of that area and try to determine what it is. If it's determined to be another plasma cytoma, we should be able to radiate it and hopefully be done with it.
The doctor really does seem to be puzzled because I show absolutely no symptoms of having any other issues. She'd expect pain and some loss of strength in the legs with the vertebra issue, and would expect shortness of breath and difficulty breathing with any lung issues. No problems in either area. They're presenting my case again next Thursday at their conference to get input from cancer doctors in all areas, so I keep getting a lot of attention.
All in all, the results were positive, leading us away from some really bad possibilities. I'm still feeling good, arms getting stronger every day and upbeat and positive!

Today didn't turn out exactly as we'd planned. It was supposed to be radiation treatment #16 followed by occupational therapy. After radiation, the radiation oncologist met with us to go over some of the early reports from the testing Friday. Early reports indicated the need for more tests. The tests required insurance pre-certification and a nurse review, so we waited for an hour and a half for the approval, then was sent to outpatient admitting for a CT Scan. During the CT, they inject you with a "contrast" that gets circulated throughout the body and turns you all warm and gooey inside!
We finally got home around 2:00 p.m. from the first test, caught up on some work and rested a little before heading back down at 4:00 to St. Lukes for an MRI. The MRI was scheduled for 5:00 and was supposed to take 30 minutes. They took me back a little before 5:00 and got me ready. They said there would be a 20 minute session, followed by another contrast injection-this one cool instead of warm, then another 10 minute session. If you haven't had an MRI, it's really noisy. It's like a jack hammer going off right in front of you face, and even with headphones on it's extremely loud. The first session seemed a lot longer than 20 minutes, but there's not a clock in that tiny tube and I just figured the noise was messing with my perception of time. When it came time for the contrast, they had a hard time finding a usable vein. I've had so many IV's, injections, blood samples, etc. since Friday there's not much left. It took about 15 minutes to get a vein for the injection, then we finished up the last 10 minute session. When I got out I realized in been in there an hour and 15 minutes! We finally got home about 6:45.
Another long day, but hopefully with the results from today and some more results from Friday's tests we'll get some answers for what's going on and a direction on how to proceed.

I didn't have any treatment or therapy today, so I finally got to get back to work for a day. It was good to be there, and it's great to see everyone just doing what they do. I work with the best staff I could ask for!
I was still feeling the effects of my long day yesterday, feeling pretty tired, but I got about 5 hours in and got caught up on a lot. Another good day!

Wow what a day! It started with the 15th radiation treatment at 8:15 a.m, then a visit with the radiation oncologist. Then I went to occupational therapy and totally got wiped out. I tested out with an increase in strength level from my previous visit, so the hard work's paying off! Then I went for a follow up with the neurosurgeon to check on the incision from the biopsy and my neck. I got released from my neck brace, more good news! Then we ate and hung out for a couple of hours before the next appointment. It was only 10:30 a.m., but I couldn't eat for at least 4 hours before my 2:30 appointment, so we ate when we could. The next appointment was a skeletal survey, which was simply 18 x-rays of every bone in my body.
The final appointment was a PET scan. Very interesting. They injected me with radiation sugar (I'm thinking I should be getting some superpowers soon from all the radiation I'm getting, hope I can choose the power I get!). They allowed 45 minutes for the injection to get throughout my body, then started taking more x-rays. The radiated sugars "light up" in the x-rays to show abnormal cell activity and clusters. It takes a few days to get all the results, so we probably won't know anything before Thursday, and we'll still need results from the bone marrow biopsy from Friday, so we still wait. All in all, a very long day, and I'm really pooped!

I had my 14th treatment this morning. I had to have one today because the St.Patrick’s Day events go right by St. Luke’s on Tuesday, so they can’t treat any outpatients that day.
Since it’s Sunday, I think I’ll share some of my spiritual side and things that are important to me. Hopefully you might see where I gain my strength.

I consider myself a fairly spiritual person, though that’s pretty hard to judge from my own point of view. I don’t know if that surprises anyone or not. I’m just an average person with a very personal, private relationship with God. I try to live my life and conduct myself in a manner that reflects that relationship without infringing on anyone else’s beliefs.
I’ve felt Gods hand in my life since I was a child. He’s guided me throughout my life, helped me through all my many mistakes, and never abandoned me. I know He’s always there.
God has blessed me beyond my wildest imaginations. He allows Tida and I to enjoy many worldly comforts, to the extent that many would think them extravagant. We’re thankful for these comforts and enjoy them daily, but they are simply possessions. As I said, they are enjoyed, but not treasured.

My treasures are my family.

My beautiful wife Tida has changed me and my life. She has a spirit unlike anyone I’ve ever known. She cares deeply about all people, but especially her family. She constantly recognizes the wonder and beauty of God’s creation each and every day. She’s made me a better person and I thank God for her every day. Many people thought we didn’t stand a chance together because we seemed so different – which we are! But God has helped us work together over the years so that we can use our differences to build a relationship where our differences complement each other. Through this entire ordeal, I’ve seen the love, concern, fear and hurt in Tida’s eyes, and I’d do anything to be able to take all those fears and hurt away. I absolutely love my life with Tida and could never ask for any more than we currently have. I look forward to our future together, growing old (in my case, older) together, and living a life of leisure and travel. Tida, thank you for sharing your life with me. I love you and treasure you more than you’ll ever know.

My family, parents and 3 sisters are my rock and foundation. As a child, they taught me love for God, and helped shape my morals and values. Many probably wouldn’t consider us a close family, only because we don’t gather often and I can go weeks or months sometimes between talks with my sisters. Some of that probably has to do with me being the only boy and being treated differently growing up. I’m sure there was a little animosity or hard feelings towards me due to that, and may still be, but they’ve never shown any of that towards me which just goes to demonstrate their own character and standards. Closeness in a family can be measured in different ways. In our case, whenever there’s been adversity, we come together and are there for each other. We know there is always love, support and strength waiting for us when needed. Thank you for your quiet, confident love and support in this and all things.

What can I say about Tida’s family? Like Tida and I, our families are quite opposite. My family is quiet and reserved. Do I need to say what Tida’s family is like? At first I think the differences were a little overwhelming for both of us. I was in shock because of all the noise and energy, and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me, I was so quiet. They have completely accepted me into their family, and like Tida herself, have changed me and made me better. They have allowed me to grow close to their children. Those that know me know what a blessing those children are in my life. They too make me be a better person; they put a smile on my face and joy in my heart every time I see them. I strive to be positive role model for them every moment I’m around them. I want each of them to grow to be happy, healthy children and adults, and will do everything I can to support them to that end. Thank you for accepting me into your family.

God and family sustain me and make me strong.

Throughout this journey, I’ve been blessed. From the moment of the diagnosis I’ve felt a calmness and peace that can’t be described. I know God is in control, won’t give me more than I can handle, and will provide for my every need.

Our attitude, and searching for and acknowledging God’s blessings can change our lives, and impact the lives around us. We have witnessed changes in others lives, and are constantly amazed at Gods love and mercy and how he works in our lives.

Tomorrow’s going to be a grind, so today I’ll rest and as always, thank God for all His blessings.

It's Saturday, not a lot going on, trying to keep things as normal as possible. I went to niece Josie's softball practice this morning. She's one of the new girls on the team, a lot of the others played on the same team last year. She did great! She excelled in all skills and looked like she was having fun. I'm so proud of her! This evening another one of our great neighbors is bringing dinner over for us. She's a southern girl who likes to cook the good southern food, so we're in for a treat. Can't wait! Later Tida's sister Brenda and her son Zachary are coming for a visit. It'll be good to see both of them; we never see them quite enough.
Since there’s not a lot going on, I thought I'd share Tida's pictures of radiation treatment today. Sorry about the pictures and narrative being separated. This google blog has some serious limitations when it comes to inserting and formatiing pictures.
The first pic is the door going into the radiation treatment room.
The radiation therapists get me on the table and prepare me for my “Hannibal Lecter” mask.
The mask is secured so that I’m in the exact same position for each treatment. Debbie and Christine are so great. They’re always smiling and happy, and I’ll actually miss seeing them daily when this is over.
Debbie fires up the computer and starts burning that bad boy up.
The whole process, from the time I enter the treatment room until I walk out only takes about 5 minutes.