Long Overdue Update

Last Tuesday, I completed my 5th cycle of Revlimid and Velcade therapy and I’m happy to report that the Myeloma has responded perfectly. There are three markers that I’ve been tracking and they’ve all dropped to the normal or near normal range! For anyone interested in the “numbers,” here they are from August ‘09 until now (I will spare you the specifics what each one means):

IGG: 4270 to 1140 (normal is 600-1700)
Lambda: 236 to 23.2 (normal is 5.7-26.3)
M-Spike: 3.2 to .3 (normal is 0)

What this also means is that I am perfectly positioned for next step in the process which is a stem cell transplant. I am going to have an Autologous Stem Cell Transplant, meaning I will be my own donor. My stem cells will be harvested from my blood, frozen until needed and then given back after receiving high doses of chemotherapy to destroy the cancer cells. To me, this is more like recycling than a transplant, but it is called a transplant, nonetheless. It’s kind of like digging up your tulip bulbs in the fall, weeding your garden, replanting the bubs and growing new, healthy, beautiful tulips in the spring. The SCT process takes almost as long with up to 6 months for full recovery.

Most people assume that a transplant is from another donor, and in the stem cell business that is called an Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant. That would involve receiving the stem cells from a sibling or match from an unrelated donor. Allogeneic SCT’s are very risky and sometimes used for treatment of MM, but an Autologous SCT is the first step for patients who physically qualify to be their own donor. One other note, a stem cell transplant is very similar to a bone marrow transplant; however, the stem cells are collected from the peripheral blood and not from the bone marrow itself.

My SCT will start on January 26 when I will be admitted to the hospital for one night to receive the first of two high dose chemotherapy treatments. More on that to come. Prior to that, I will be having a surgical procedure tomorrow to get a TriFusion or Hickman catheter in my chest. This will be used during the entire process to administer the chemo, collect and infuse the stem cells and give me fluids or other drugs needed.