Home Again, Home Again

We were able to move from our apartment to another Home Away From Home apartment that was only about a block away.  We packed the car in such a way so we could unload only what we needed for one night.  A group of about 20 middle school kids from The Little Rock Church which sponsors the Home Away from Home program came by caroling Sunday night.  They also gave us some coffee mugs with Christmas goodies.  For us being able to use the two apartments was our Christmas gift.

Carla met with another myeloma doctor on Monday and detailed the maintenance plan.  The doctor thought Carla's blood tests showed she was ready to be dismissed.  Carla tolerated the trip home even though we were delayed just north of Clinton, AR for about an hour due to a four fatality car wreck.

Miss Kitty welcomed us home.  She stuck close to us as she had been home alone for just over two weeks.  Carla gained strength each day and Tuesday night settled in the recliner to attempt to crochet another hat.  Missy Kitty attempted to get as close to her as possible as shown in this picture.

Carla asked her primary-care doctor on Wednesday to remove her stitches.  This doctor got back with us on Friday and notified us that she would not remove the stitches due to liability concerns.  Carla's oncologist could not tell us if he could take them out as he was out of his office until Tuesday.  Finally we went to the Urgent Care and got the stitches removed.  Her incision is healing nicely.

Carla will meet with her Springfield oncologist this coming week.  They will line out the dates and times for her maintenance.  Basically we hope to have the Revlimid drugs delivered to her home by December 20.  She will take the Revlimid pills for 21 days and then not take them for 7 days.  During each 28 day cycle Carla will get an infusion of the drug Velcade at the oncologist's clinic.  She will take dexametasone pill each day she get Velcade.  She will have to get her blood tested each week before they can give her the Velcade.  While taking the Revlimid she will also take daily aspirin to ward off blood clots. 

Basically this will be the maintenance schedule for the next three years.  The Velcade infusions can be weekly plus or minus 1 or 2 days.  This will keep Carla tethered and limit our trips to not more than a week as she needs to get the Velcade in Springfield.

The Myeloma Clinic will need Carla to return to Little Rock every three months for PET scans and bone marrow biopsies.  This means we don't have to return to Little Rock until the end of March, 2011! 

Doctor's Appointment Moved to Monday!

Carla got a good report from the infectious disease physician and we have worked with a research nurse to enable Carla to be seen by a Dr. Waheed on Monday instead of waiting for Dr. Barlogie on Thursday.  Dr. Waheed is one of the newer doctors in the Myeloma Institue.  The research nurse got Dr. Barlogie to approve this move.  Carla is scheduled to see Dr. Waheed at 11:00 Monday.

We have been monitoring Carla's blood results.  The CRP level can be an indicator of possible infection.  Yesterday's CRP level was down to 13 with the normal range being 0 - 10.  Yes, it was slightly elevated but I think it will be back to normal by Monday.

We have to clean our apartment and move out by 2:00 p.m. tomorrow as the patient we have been sub-leasing from will be moving in at 2:30.  Home Away From Home did have a patient move out of another apartment.  This patient has kept the apartment rented during their brief trip home.  We plan to move into that apartment tomorrow afternoon and sub-lease it by the night.  We hope we can head home Monday afternoon.  If for some reason we still have to stay longer, we can still have a comfortable place to stay.