Good news today. I met with the Oncologist today, and he reviewed my blood work. The numbers are good, and right where he'd hoped they'd be. This cancer (Multiple Myeloma) is a real technical-sounding disease, with a lot of names and numbers I'm having a hell of a time understanding. But in a nutshell, the bad protein in my blood has gone from 5% to 1.5% which means I'm responding to treatment just as hoped.
The Doc told me that the next step is an evaluation and bone marrow biopsy. We'll do that this coming Monday. Right now, my condition is "very good partial remission" and he said we can't declare a remission without the biopsy. If all is good with that, then I'll have a consult with the transplant team at Hackensack University Hospital in New Jersey.
What has to happen is that they'll decide if I need another cycle of treatment with Revlimid, Velcade and Zometa. When that decision is made, the next step after that would be to prep for the stem cell transplant.
The way I understand it, the process is this: They'll harvest my own stem cells through IV. They'll freeze and store them. Then the Oncologist said they'll use something called melphalan, which will wipe out the remaining myeloma cells. This also destroys the bone marrow, so they'll wait till I'm clear, and then transplant my own stem cells back into me.
The next step is to avoid infection (boy in the plastic bubble time) and wait for the engraftment process to happen, to regenerate my bone marrow and thus, my immune system.
I'm very excited. The next few weeks will be busy. Consults, meetings, a class. And then we look forward to early 2013 for the actual transplant. I can't wait!
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