Back for Consolidation #1

Wow!  We really enjoyed our six week break back home.  We saw Carla's back improve and she quit wearing the brace.  We enjoyed having Carla's daughter, Carissa with us.  My brother-in-law, Arden, and my son, John, helped us build a small storage shed in our back yard.  My sister was able to spend nine days with us.  My daughter and her family moved to Springfield from Fort Worth.  A college friend, Valo, was able to drop by for a visit.  It was a great and badly needed break!

Our prayers were answered when we were notified on Thursday, April 10 that there was a one-bedroom apartment available to us through the Home Away From Home program of the Little Rock Church.

On Monday, June 14th, we returned to Little Rock.  Carla had the painful bone marrow procedure and long MRI on Tuesday.  Wednesday she had a CT scan.  We saw Dr. Barlogie on Thursday and Carla got a triple lumen line implanted in her chest.  This time we are scheduled to go to the Myeloma Infusion Center (MIC) rather than 7C at the hospital because 7C does all of the stem cell transplants and they are booked full.  So Friday saw Carla go to the MIC to get her "black bag" containing two pumps and IV bags.  She also started taking the dexamethasone and thalidomide pills.  She will take the pills and have the black bag for four days.  She has to go to MIC each morning to get blood drawn for tests and get her black bag refreshed.

The main chemo drug this time is Velcade which is given as a shot.  Velcade generally does not make patients as sick as the melphalan that she had in preparation for each of the two stem cell transplants.  Hopefully she will not get as sick this time as she did during transplant #2.

One prayer request is that Carla will be able to avoid getting any infection during her low immunity.  There is some respiratory viral infection going around MIC.  Carla wears a mask when she goes to MIC.  Several patients have had extended therapy as they got some infection.  We visited with a friend and his wife who are from Valley Forge.  He got a GI infection and had to spend time in intensive care.  He was excited to finally be going home.

If Carla doesn't get any infection, we might be able to go home as early as July 1.   At least that is when Carla's next appoint is to see the doctor.  Usually he has been able to predict when Carla will need a discharge appointment.