Good News

Good news from the doctor today. My mother's cancer numbers are down and we still have a donor. We are scheduled for October 24th but again please do not set this in stone. This is good news and we again on the right track. She still needs to have chemo and steroids but at least we are moving again.

Hope

More updates

So here is more information. The good news is that my mother is oh so graceful and falls. Her back is hurt because she fell and not because she has a tumor or any other serious concerns. The not so good news is her cancer numbers keep going up. She is still on steroids and chemo and hopefully her numbers will drop soon. My mother and father are going to City of Hope tomorrow for more blood work and more chemo. At this point not much to do but wait for her numbers to go down. As of Monday we still had the donor and they were double checking with him for the new dates, but at least he was still around. So that is all for now I will write when we know more. Take care.

Hope

The emotional Roller Coaster ride continues

Okay, I just wanted to add to want my mother wrote. So she will not be admitted into the hospital now until the Doctor and the new chemo can work it's magic. They doctor called the Donor center and asked to push the schedule back three weeks.

Her cancer numbers (the bad protein numbers) are up and her M spike which also is related to the cancer proteins are up. So the bad protein and the M spike can not be going up when she receives the transplant. It is hard to understand so I will let those of you who are interested google it. Other wise trust me in that her numbers need to be going down when she has the transplant.

So my mother got an infusion yesterday after meeting with the doctor and she will be going twice a week for three weeks for infusions. The doctor will re-evaluate her numbers to see where she is at every week. A side note, my mother fell a couple of weeks ago and re-injured her back. She informed the doctor that she is still hurting. The doctor is concerned because this is happening the same time her number are going up, so she needs to take steroids everyday until Monday. She will then go in for an MRI on her back to find out what is wrong with her back, the doctor is concerned that it may be a tumor on her spine. Which is why he put her on the steroids they will help slow or reduce the tumor if there is one.

We all believe that she hurt her self being oh so graceful, but the doctor wants to be careful at this point. Which we are all grateful for, though being on that much steroid for that long will be a challenge. But the doctor did give her strong sleeping pills which my father is thankful for.

At this point it seems it is a wait and see. So to sum up, my mother is on stronger chemo twice a week, more steroids, we need to wait for the transplant until her numbers go back down. The transplant will happen it is just a matter of when.

thank you all.

One more ride

We visited City of Hope today, this time the whole family ( Hope, James, Joel, Candy and me) for the meeting before I go in. Only as it turns out that is not what is going to happen.Good news I still have a doner! Not so good news my counts (numbers) are not where they need to be so we start a new plan. The transplant is being moved back three weeks so they (the Dr's) can work on getting my numbers down as needed. M spike, Agi, protien, and kidney numbers all need to come down. Red, white, platelets all need to go up. Sort of like a math brain teaser. Anyway I will be getting infusions on Mon. and Thur. at city of Hope. I will get valcade, and Cytoxan both are chemo plus Decetron (steroid), with all the keep me from getting sick meds. that should make life interesting and it should move the numbers in the right directions.

So for those of you still on the ride with me it looks like the rollycoaster just took off again before we could get off. Hang on for the ride, throw your hands in the air and scream. We might as well have so fun if we are going to keep riding.
Pat
Remember to look for the Miracles
they are everywhere

New Dates

We ( Joel, Pat and myself Hope) went to City of Hope again today for a Doctors visit. (she will be going every week until this is over). I told you not to write the dates in ink, yes we have new dates. The new admit date is not set yet, she has the option of getting her chemo and still being at home for the first week if her numbers stay the same or get better. So we are looking at the end of September around the 28th. The donor is schedule (yes scheduled) to donate on October 1 and she would get the cells on the 2nd. She needs to be in the hospital for nine days before that.

We are having a family meeting with the doctor next week to find out how best to take care of her after she is release from the hospital, but having to stay close to the hospital. Please let me know if any of you are interested in helping with the after care. Just email me or call. I am planning to video tape the meeting.

Other than that she is doing good, tires easily, sore back, and more on the tired end. If you have question post them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them. Take care and thank you all for your thoughts.

Hope

Third time is the charm. I hope so, if you have been counting doners we are now up to three . Number two couldn't be a doner until Nov. 2010. So the new doner is a male , 20 years old with -B blood type. He matches all but one Major marker and is only a minor mismatch on that marker. He also doesn't match on one minor marker. What does that mean to me? It changes my percents. I now have a 40% chance that this will all work and I will be cancer free before it was 50%. I have a 35% chance that there will be a life threatening host vs doner reaction and or death before it was 25% . I have a 25% chance of going through all of this and being right were I am with the cancer after, that percent is the same as before. Dr. Parker said it just means he will have to adjust the rejection meds, that with the new meds that are out now we should be fine.
Why not wait and see if I can find a better match? My cancer is being very uncooperative. Even on the chemo it keeps trying to take over. The Dr. is having a hard time keeping my numbers down. We can wait but there will be significant damage to my health. So we go with the new doner. I am very lucky I have a third doner to go with there are lots of people that would jump at a chance to have any kind of a match.
We will know for sure if this doner is a go next Friday. I will update all of you than. Have an awesome week and please enjoy each day.
Look for the miracles.
Pat

More Donor issues

Okay so we do not have any idea of what is going on, all we do know is that City of Hope changed my mothers admit date again. So now it is not until the 28th of September. Please do not write this date anywhere in ink. I have made that mistake one too many times. Write in pencils so you can change it as needed. All joking aside.

I wanted to update everyone so that they know. My mother has a doctors appointment tomorrow and hopefully we will learn more. But for now all we know is the date has changed once again, and we will continue to ride the emotional roll coaster until we have my mother cured.

Thank you all, sooner or later we will need your support and help in my mothers recovery, I will keep everyone posted as much as possible.