Shelley and Me

Troy, me, Shelley and Ryan:)

Troy and I would like to thank all of our amazing friends and family for their generous donations and presence at the auction last night. It was great to see everyone and we feel very blessed to have your support. Our youngest daughter was pretty impressed that so many people care about her daddy:) This dinner would not have been the success that it was without my great friend, Shelley Beauchamp. Thank you to your family, Ryan and your boys for sharing your time for our family when we needed your help. Thank you to each and everyone of you who donated all the beautiful items and thanks to you who bid on them. We appreicate you all:)

Home Sweet Home

We made it home late Saturday, just in time to get some rest for the next day. What a great superbowl. We were excited about the victory. Troy went back to work on Monday. The doctors in Minnesota wanted him to resume chemo this week, but Dr. Rados office wants him to have an appointment with him first. Troy is kind of frusterated about that because he just wants to move forward and get the chemo going. So, they made an appointment for him on the 16th and then he'll get more blood work, meet with the doc and start chemo.

The fundraiser is tomorrow. Their are alot of amazing people who have been generous with their time, generous with making wonderful baskets for the silent auctions and friends who are doing so much to get this all ready, especially Shelley. Thanks:) We have over 30 items to be auctioned and it should be an exciting time.

Overall Troy is feeling good. He is a bit tired but that is to be expected. More thatn anything he is glad to be home, in his own bed and with the family.

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:)

Troy started his 3rd cycle of chemo on Tuesday and he had his appointment with Dr. Rado. We received great news. The Velcade (chemo) is doing what they hoped it would do. Troys' creatine level had dropped to 2.2. This means his kidneys are functioning much better and this will help his stem cell transplant be more successful. Troy will be leaving January 10th to go to Minnesota. His appointment is on the 12th. It looks like he will be there for a minimum of 7 weeks. George will go with him first and then I will go about two to three weeks later, depending on when the conditioning period begins. Happy holidays to everyone:)

Time is flying by and we can't believe that Christmas is almost here. Troy is doing good. His water weight is gone now.....thanks to the diuretics. Chemo is chemo and for the most part he feels sick for a couple days after each dose. This week is his off week and then he will start for another 2 weeks next week. We are anxious for the stem cell transplant. Troy will be leaving January 19th. His best friend George will be going for the first 2 weeks and then I will go after, when it's the hardest time for him. It is called the conditioning period. They will give him high doses of chemo, bring his immunity down to 0 and give him stem cells. My friends and I have been putting together a fundraiser to help with the expenses. Keep us in your prayers.

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.

My family

Here's my wife of 8 years, Shani. She is a seafood lead at Yokes in W.Richland and a great sales person and cook! She loves to get friends & family together and waits on them hand and foot. She can cook anything so if your coming over, be prepared to eat!

Shaniah, is my oldest daughter and in the 5th grade. Taylor, or "Bean" or Tay Tay, as her friends like to call her, is in the 1st grade.