I think I may have mentioned that I am unofficially going for the bone marrow biopsy record over a 90 day period. Someone contact Guinness... and while you are talking to them, see if they know the guys from St. James Gate as well... And speaking...
OK, I started the previous paragraph in the middle of the 4th quarter of the Bengals game Monday night and was too annoyed to finish the blog post at the end of the game. So here it is Tuesday night (early Wed technically) and I am in the hospital again. This is a bit premature and unexpected as I developed some tightness in my chest this morning, and throughout the day it progressively got worse and by dinner time, Lynn brought me to the ER after consulting my doctor (As we were reminded during our weekly Monday appointment, I have had very few complications up to this point outside of the slow recovery from the initial chemo treatment).
I was seen pretty quickly in the ER and given morphine for the severe pain I had while breathing. Then I went through the tests, the chest X Ray, and the CT scan to find out the cause of the pain. I guess its a break when you are told you will be admitted with Pneumonia and not a blood clot. So here I am giving a long overdue update.
Rewind to last week.... as a result of my WBC's finally jumping to a much higher level, I did have another bone marrow biopsy to assess where I stand with the next set of treatment. The preliminary results of the latest (8th) biopsy showed slightly higher than 5% blasts. Final written reports will be in today and the team will consult on my next set of chemo. The choices are limited and if they blasts stay over 5%, the likelihood of another round of the induction chemo (which I went through all the way back in Sept) is high.
I have tried to stay away from making assumptions throughout the treatments, recovery, and next steps. I've tried to let the different sets of #'s guide the process and play out as it will. And if the #'s don't change, that would mean we are headed toward the bone marrow transplant, but first, the Pneumonia needs to be dealt with before any new treatment can be started.
I haven't mentioned the experimental protocol in a while, as the slow recovery has limited much of its influence over the past 6 weeks. Many of the bone marrow biopsies were previously driven by the protocol team, and the thought is that, yes, I will have one more biopsy this week for their assessment. As of November 1, the protocol team extended my participation by another 2 weeks. There was/is a chance that I will not be participating in the protocol based on the slow recovery over the past couple months. Within the protocol procedures, progress needs to be made over a certain period for my case to be considered valid, and we are right on the cusp of that timing. As you may recall, we (me or my doctor) do not know whether we are taking the actual drug or a placebo, nor will we for upward of 18 months (if I am still participating).
Over the past couple months, I think all of us in the family have been led to a false sense of security with how I have been feeling (which has been pretty good). Maybe security isn't the right word because we all knew the road map and that there are going to be some bumps on the way. We just haven't had that many. We all got used to me being in the "chair" while home where I worked or managed my horrendous fantasy football teams, as I drank Welch's grape juice in amazing quantities. But, being back in the hospital the way I came in today hits you straight in the face. Thanks go out to my parents for being around to help Lynn and I cope with our daily routine (see above, mine was not that exiting, grape juice and all). I'll try and post more regular updated this week as we get more information and direction, but for the past couple months, the mood was definitely much lighter.
Again, many thanks to all who have continued to support our family with dinners and thoughtful assistance, it has not gone unnoticed. We hope to touch base with everyone along the way.
And last, for those of you who know the Mompers, keep them in your thoughts as Mark's wife Karen recovers from some surgery as she prepares for her own bone marrow transplant.
