Saturday, December 11, 2010

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! 

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