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!