Coming home soon:)

We had another long, but successful day yesterday. Troy only had to get poked twice, thanks to his great nurse, Diane. The Mayo Clinic gives outstanding patient care. She was one of the nurses from the day before, but she made sure this time to go as high as possible on his arm. Troy hates needles, so you can imagine how delighted he was. We received a call last night from the nurse coordinator confirming that they had enough stem cells. He collected over 4 million yesterday. In all, close to 11 million, the target was 8. We feel very fortunate because they were expecting 3-5 days. Some patients might only collect 500,000 a day. There was one man that had to go through it for 10 days. That is close to 60+ hours of lying on your back and of course still having to get the growth hormone shots. He came back to visit the nurses and talked with us. It was nice to see him doing so well. People change when they go through an experience like this. I think it's kind of like a military comradery.
Anyway, Troy got alot of rest yesterday and today we are going to venture out a bit to see cold Minnesota. We will go back to the Mayo on Friday to get blood work so they can check his creatine level, also they will discuss his treatment plan for the tricities. Then...we are homebound to get our babies, our doggie and to watch The Steelers kick some Cardinal bootie:) That will be a good welcome home!!!!

I arrived in Minnesota on Saturday evening the 24th. Troy was excited for my arrival but very exhausted. The growth factor shots are given two times a day and they are causing alot of overall body pain. This whole experience over the past months makes you realize how strong an individual can be even when they may not want to be.....because...they have to be...to cope and to hope. Today was day one of getting the stem cells removed. We were at the hospital for 7 hours. Troy has a port for chemo but it doesn't work for the stem cells so they had to give him an iv in each arm. They missed 4 times on the right arm....due to too many valves...they always say wow great veins but then they go right through them. It took 3 nurses to get it. OUCH!!!! Troy will live with this disease forever. I hope that they find a complete cure someday. It's hard to imagine we will be going through this indefinately. The nurse just called and said that Troy collected 6 million of the 8million stem cells he needs, so it looks like we will probably only have one more day of collecting. However, his creatine level for his kidneys has gone up to 2.4, it was 1.8. We are getting ready to go and get his growth factor shot and more blood work. Then back to the room to relax and start over again tomorrow.
We want to thank George for coming here for two weeks, Shelley and Ryan for having our children and Susan for watching our dog so I can be where I'm needed the most right now. This whole experience has been humbling.....you never think this will happen to you....for now we will take this one day at a time... be thankful....and continue on with the chemo when we get back. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the fundraiser and want to express how thankful we are of your willingness to help us through this journey:)

We received great news yesterday. Troy is in remission. The chemotherapy has been working. They found no traces of the disease in his bone marrow. All of his levels on everything are almost normal. The doctors have decided to remove enough stem cells for two transplants because of his age. He is young enough and if he were to relaspe they want to have enough for another transplant if needed. Troy will resume chemotherapy when he returns home. Then, he will be monitored, forever. Thank you all for your prayers and support:)When I say monitored forever, this disease doesn't seem to fully go away. That is why it is so important to follow all the treatment plans and continue the chemo. Currently, Troys kidney funtion is 1/2 normal because of the chronic damage.

Troy arrived safely in Rochester and has been undergoing many tests. His first 3 days have been filled from early morning till late afternoon. Tomorrow he will meet with the doctors and get all the information on his test results and meet with the counselors of the stem cell transplant team to discuss all that will be taking place. It is very cold in Rochester. Troy keeps re minding me to make sure I bring plenty of warm clothes when I go on the 24th. we are very thankful for George taking the trip with Troy to help him and keep him company. Northwest Airlines lost Georges' luggage and he still doesn't have it:( Believe it or not......5 days into the trip.....it's in Central America. Thank goodness they are paying him to buy clothes and daily necessities. The picture above is a part of the Mayo clinic. Troy says it is amazing. I will let you know more tomorrow.

Troy will be leaving on Saturday the 1oth to Rochester, Minnesota. George will be going along for the first two weeks. He will be getting another bone marrow biopsy on the 12th, as well as many other tests of his whole body. He is due to meet with the doctors and the stem cell transplant team on the 15th to go over test results and to discuss his upcoming treatments. I will be flying to Minnesota on the 24th. Troy will start growth factor shots on the 26th to increase production of his stem cells and if all goes well they will be removed and frozen by the 3oth. We are scheduled to arrive back in the tri-cites on the 31st. The current plan is for Troy to do 5 more cycles of the Velcade chemo. We will know alot more on the 15th. I will update you all as soon as we get more news. Thanks to all of our friends for your help and prayers. We love you:)