Sunday, May 9, 2010

Back Home!

Sorry to be so late writing an update.  Carla received an unexpected discharge on Friday, April 30.  She was still weak but her blood counts were recovering.  She is not scheduled to return for Consolidation I until June 14 so we decided to release our apartment.  This meant we had to get the apartment cleaned up and load ALL of our stuff into the car.  We got out of Little Rock about 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Carissa is with us in Springfield and helps take care of Carla and gives Carla a break from my cooking.  Carla has to get blood work done each Wednesday and have a sample sent to Little Rock every second week.

It probably will take Carla longer to recover from this stem cell transplant.  She still has nausea and weakness.  She seems to be gaining some strength each day.  She was able to accompany me to church this morning.  She didn't feel like sitting for Sunday School and church but did fine for just the service.

We appreciate all of your prayers and look forward to being at home enjoying the warmer weather. 

There will be two more phases to her therapy.  They are called consolidation I & II.  These will consist of 3 or 4 weeks of chemo each.  These phases will involve Velcade and not the harsher Melphalan.  There will be a break between the consolidation phases.  Once she completes the consolidation phases, there will be a 3-year maintenance phase.

I want to add a couple things to this blog.  Through a link that one of this blog's followers follows, there is a Canadian broadcast dealing with the high cost of treatment of multiple myeloma.  It focus is Thalidomide.  Carla's doctor, Dr. Bart Barlogie, is interviewed as he was the one who developed the use of Thalidomide in treating multiple myeloma.  I think you will find it interesting.
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/w5/pills-patients–profits/#clip281624

Last night Michael McKean won the final round of the “Jeopardy!” Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational Tournament.  One million dollars now goes to the International Myeloma Foundation to fund additional research!!! Yeah!
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b180143_spinal_tapper_cranks_jeopardy_winnings.html