Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Anniversaries and Milestones.....

Sixty-nine years ago today, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and left over 2,400 dead.

Two months ago today,  Bob's Oncologist confirmed the diagnosis of  Multiple Myeloma, and admitted him to the hospital.
Two months ago today, he suffered through a Bone Marrow Biopsy. Two months ago today, he would have been dead within a week (the oncologist assessment) - had he not been diagnosed, and admitted to the hospital.

This journey, just as in life, is marked by milestones and anniversaries. The anniversary of the first blood transfusion, the anniversary of the infusa port, the anniversary of the first Chemo treatment, a milestone when the M-Spike begins to decrease, a milestone of partial remission, a milestone when there's a day without pain - milestones and anniversaries.

Today, Elizabeth Edwards lost her 6 year battle with Breast Cancer, and ended her journey. She taught us how to face adversity, and death, with grace and dignity. Perhaps her death saddened me more because I am living with cancer - my husband has cancer - so I live with cancer, every day.

My dream is that one day we can have an anniversary of the day no one else is diagnosed with cancer. That would truly be a milestone!

 

Monday, December 6, 2010

No news........just no news

No news is generally an indication of good news, but in our case, no news just means......no earth shattering  new news! Bob is now on the once per week Chemo (Velcade) routine.  The Dex (I'm beginning to use those anacronyms.....either getting smarter, or lazier!) sends his Blood Glucose soaring for a couple of days, so we pull the insulin out of the fridge to get it back in line.


His only real issue (okay, other than the MM) seems to be the pain in his pelvis and legs (Neuropathy??. MM??, Velcade??, Sciatica??) which has gotten worse by the day. And, of course, it continues ALWAYS to be worse at night. For the past week, he has been on 300 mg of Neurontin, once per day;  and  increased to 3 x per day, yesterday. The Neurontin, and 4 mg of Dilaudid every 4 hours, plus some cold wraps around his ankles  makes the pain bearable but also make him struggle to stay awake!


He goes for Xrays tomorrow, after Chemo;  and  an MRI, on Saturday, to try and determine which of the above is causing his pain.     


His appetite is still good, his attitude is great ......maybe this is all just a bad dream?