Second Cycle of chemo

Troy started his second cycle of Chemo yesterday. You do two weeks and then have one week off. He will do a total of 4 cycles and should be done in early January. The chemo is miserable for him. The Mayo clinic called two days ago to give us his tentative schedule for his stem cell transplant. It looks like he will be going back to Minnesota January 19th. He begged the doctor to let him stop the current treatment, but the doctor won. He gained close to 26 pounds becuase of the steroids and it is all water weight. His kidney specialist increased his diuertics. He is very tired and just wants our lives to be back to normal.

Second week of chemo

Troy is starting his second week of chemo today. He had a bad day yesterday. The steroids are making him swell, his stomach is at least twice the size. He was nauseated and overall felt yucky. he will get his labs taken today also, so I'll let you all know if the velcade is working at when we find out.

Friends getting together after diagnosis this summer

I'm in the middle with my hand on my best buddies shoulder and surrounded by my friends.

I was diagnosed with Gamma Heavy Chains Disease in late May early June. It all started in March. I had an upper respiratory infection and I was swelling out of no where. I ended up in the emergency room. I was released with extremely high blood pressure and was told to follow-up with my primary doctor on Monday. I had several tests and was given a lot of blood pressure meds to keep my pressure under control. In April I started to get sick again and was admitted to the emergency room. My blood pressure was out of control and my oxygen level was low. I was admitted into the critical care unit. I went into acute renal failure and the swelling was back in full force. Again, several tests were taken as well as a ton of blood and finally, my kidney specialist, Dr. Ariff, had me transported to Sacred Medical Center in Spokane to get a kidney biopsy. He thought I had Good Pastures Syndrome. I had no clue what it was, but looking back I wish it would have been that. I spent three days there and was released once we knew that the preliminary tests were negative for Good Pastures. About a week later we were given the news that I had Gamma Heavy Chains Disease, which by the way is, myeloma or cancer of the plasma cells. This disease is very rare. It will typically attack an organ and that is why my kidneys were failing, which explained the high blood pressure and all the miserable swelling. I was referred to Dr. Rado, my hematologist for treatment and additional testing. I had to get a bone marrow biopsy. The test results didn't indicate anything as severe a the Heavy Chains Disease and at the time Dr. Rado felt that the diagnosis wasn't right. He told me I had monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. I didn't know what that was either but I knew I was going to live. I was relieved. I thought I had my life back. The only worry now was to concentrate on my kidneys by taking all the meds. I went back for a 3 month follow-up. My blood work came back with high levels of the wrong things and low levels of the right things and I had to do one week of chemo. I was so exhausted. It turns out I was severely anemic and I had to be admitted to the hospital to get a blood transfusion. After further testing it was confirmed that the diagnosis from the kidney biopsy was right. Dr. Rado told me I might have a year to live. My kidneys are getting worse and that's just how this disease works. He asked me if I'd be willing to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. They do a lot of research and have doctors who are more experienced with my diagnosis. I left about 2 weeks later. I am now following their treatment plan under Dr. Rados supervision. I just started a fairly new chemo, called Velcade along with a high powered steroid. They are hoping that the Velcade will make my kidneys stronger. The goal......back to the Mayo Clinic for a Stem Cell Transplant. The doctors are afraid that my kidneys will fail if we were to do it right now, however, the plan is to move forward, hope the Velcade works and either way I will be back on my way to the clinic at the end of December or beginning of January to get the transplant or to get stem cells removed and frozen for later. If all works out it will be the transplant and my wife, Shani and I will be going to Minnesota in the winter for a minimum of six weeks. I will need a full-time caregiver as the transplant is pretty extensive and I will be very sick from high doses of chemo and then of course there is the aftercare to make sure that things are ok. Until then, it's velcade about 30 pills a day and taking things one day at a time.