To all my friends here on the forum: Thanks for the good words and requests on my behalf to the big Trainmaster upstairs.
It’s been a while since I told everyone the initial diagnosis on my Multiple myeloma and I have some good news to report. For those not familiar with the disease, MM is a cancer that affects a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. Plasma cells produce antibodies to help fight infection and disease. In the disease, cancerous plasma cells (myeloma cells) are found in the bone marrow, the spongy tissue inside bones that manufactures blood cells.
When I was first diagnosed in late November, they did a bone marrow biopsy and found that 80% of my bone marrow was contaminated with the cancer. I have completed three rigorous chemo cycles thus far, and just began cycle four this morning. Each chemo cycle lasts fifteen days and then they give me ten days off between cycles to let my body recuperate a bit.
They performed another bone marrow biopsy last week at the end of cycle three. When I saw the doctors this morning, they told me the test results were zero percent. That means there was no detectable cancer in my bone marrow. They want me to complete cycle four just as an added precaution. That will run until the end of the month.
In March they will begin harvesting my stem cells at the Oklahoma Blood Institute. That is a fairly involved process. They will hook me up to a machine for a few days and pump my blood through a device that will pull out the good stem cells and return everything else back into my system. After they get enough stem cells for a couple of transplants, they will freeze them. They’re good for up to ten years.
At that point they will give me a thorough heavy chemo / radiation treatment that will basically kill everything in my bone marrow. Then they will thaw out some of my saved stem cells and put them back into me. I will be in the hospital for about four weeks during and following the transplant process. The last three weeks will basically be in an isolation environment, since I will have zero immunity to anything until my stem cells start producing antibodies. I will even have to re-take all of my baby immunizations.
They tell me that it might take six to twelve months to regain my strength and get back to a normal schedule, but I’m optimistic that I can reduce that time. Besides. I have the entire Parlor car reserved on the C&TSR in Chama, NM for the 1st annual Bob Hyman family reunion on June 12th. I may not be strong enough to attend the RGS OPs session at Ken’s in April, but I’ll sure try. And I might even manage to have my layout open for visitors this summer!
It’s kind of ironic. I started doing things on my bucket list when I thought I might not be around much longer – I bought a new pick-up truck, expanded the patio, put in a fancy spa, built a cedar pergola, and did a few other things – and now they’re taking away my bucket. Don’t get me wrong … I’m not complaining. It’s much better this way.
Bob
