Weighing In

Last year at this time I weighed 175 lbs. After Christmas I weighed 185.4! So I decided to lose 20 lbs by this Thanksgiving. The last 4 weeks were somewhat eventful. Oct 29 I weighed 170.2 lbs., Nov 5 168.3, Nov 12 166.8, Nov 19 169.7. (What! I gained 2.9 lbs. in one week leaving me 4.3 to lose in 4 days) On Nov 22, 72 hours later, I weighed 165 lbs. losing 4.7 lbs. I used the same scale (Velda thinks it may be defective. It is a nice digital one in the YMCA) My family can attest that I didn't do anything different the last 72 hours. I have no explanation but am going to celebrate the victory over the holidays (Hopefully not to the tune of gaining 10 lbs. in 5 weeks. Velda is emphasizing moderation). During this journey I made 1 lifestyle change in that I stopped eating lunch and walked in the park (1.25 miles) as fast as I could to maximize the workout and also because I have a fairly short lunch period. Another bonus is that I can wear some slacks that I had to lay aside back in January.

Confidence

My latest checkup continues to indicate that I am in remission! My appointments have been 6 months apart. The farther apart the appointments, the greater the confidence that the cancer is going to stay in remission. This next appointment is 6 months away. After that my oncologist is considering  appointments to be a year apart. Not only that, my kidney numbers have always been higher than normal and one said nurse that maybe this is my new normal. This last checkup showed my kidneys just .08 of a point above normal. Best numbers yet. We praise God for these blessings and your prayers.

Dear friends,
Thank you for your overwhelming response to my support letter! I am continuing to thank God for His goodness and for providing for my needs through you. I am currently at $5,900! I'm leaving August 28th. Thanks again! Hope to post again soon.

Grace

Why are you doing so well?

This is the statement by my oncologist said after my checkup today. Also after looking at my labs he said "Man these are good!" His final quotable statement was "You have been incredible since Day 1." That last statement refers to the fact that my indicators were the highest he had seen in his career. He's about my age so that would be a long time. It also refers to the incredible turnaround we have been experiencing. Now to get a little technical, he also said that we will see if I am on the flat part of the curve. Multiple myeloma is a rare cancer and there is still a lot to learn about it. Because of this no one is ever declared "cured". Usually, right after treatment, the numbers start creeping up and eventually another bone marrow transplant (BMT) is needed. this usually happens in 5-15 years. Occasionally some people stay on the flat part of the curve. Basically there is no change in the indicators since the BMT. He's being very cautious but so far there is a possibility that I'm on the flat part of the curve. If that is true he said he will be kicking me out of the clinic. It is the closest thing he can say to being cured. We praise God for this and also for the incredible amount of support from all of you.

Weighty Matters

As part of my post cancer regimen I get a checkup periodically. After I was taken off chemotherapy pills the checkups were scheduled every month to watch me closely. One checkup was before Thanksgiving and another was after Christmas. Each checkup includes recording my weight. Somehow I gained 10 pounds from before Thanksgiving till after Christmas. As a result I set a New Year's goal of losing 2 pounds a month with hopes of trimming 20 pounds by the end of October. That way if I gain 10 pounds over next holiday season I will have a net loss of 10 pounds for the year. Gary McClure, a friend who teaches at Southeast of Salina High School, inspired me when he shared that he had started walking at lunch. I now walk for about a mile at lunch in a little over 15 minutes.  Last Sunday Michaela (my eldest) decided to see how I was doing. We walked to the YMCA on Sunday (2/19) and found that I had already lost 6 pounds in less than 2 months! I celebrated by having 2 pieces of cake when we got back home. After all I have 2 discretionary pounds that I can use before March 1st.

New Frontiers

Since I have been in remission I have been on a regimen of a small dose of chemotherapy in the form of a pill as a safeguard against the cancer recurring. During this time I have been praying that I could stop taking pills. I told my oncologist that my first desire is to maintain best practice but a second desire was to stop taking pills. A factor about the chemotherapy is that it suppresses my immune system causing me to get sick frequently. I asked him how long I would be taking the chemotherapy and he said "Indefinitely". I accepted that but the next check up he did a reversal and suggested that I try a season off the pills. He said one of three things would happen: 1) I would stay in remission and my immune system would return to normal 2) I would stay in remission and my immune system would not change making its compromised state my new normal 3) My cancer would come out of remission. He didn't think #3 was likely which is why he removed the chemotherapy from my regimen. That was started in October last year and it looks like option #1 is what I'm experiencing. I feel great and am experiencing fewer bouts with viruses and bacteria that would keep from school and occasionally landed me in the ER. I apologize for not keeping you up to date. I will try to do better in the future.