To All-
While last week I blogged that Ret should be heading south to the Hutch in 3-4 weeks to begin the transplant process................... well as they say "not so fast buckaroo" seems as if her M-Protein has in fact been reduced even more, which is not what they thought would happen. It's a good because they want it a low as possible going into the transplant, but a bad thing if you're mentally prepared to move on to the next stage which Ret was. Oh well you learn to live with these ups and downs as you go along, but we'll get her there soon.
Love Ret and Jack
Monday, July 13, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Next Phase
To All:
It's been a month since my last post which has followed my normal path however I believe we'll on the web a little more frequent in the coming months.
We had our Dr. visit yesterday and as with most of them it was all good news. That said however we now know that the transplant procedure will probably begin in the next 3-4 weeks. As expected Ret's M-Protein count has leveled out, her last two counts were .9 and her oncologist expects that the results from yesterdays blood draw will be the same. Those results will be available Thursday or Friday this week. If the expected results come in we then revisit the Hutch for a Cancer reassessment which is standard procedure just to level set all the criteria to move forward. Unfortunately some of the tests Lil' Ret's not happy about because they've been done before and weren't much fun but she knows they are necessary. So we are moving on to the next phase of our journey.
As always I need to mention some special people, as you all are. My last post I mentioned Cindy Ellis and her personal challenge to complete a 13.1 mile cancer walk in memory of her son Brett, Ret and many who are stricken with this disease. I asked if any of you could donate to her cause please do so, and many of you did so thank you for that. Well our neighbor Paige Albert caught wind of Cindy's goal and decided to step up and help out. Paige is a in home sales representative for SILPADA DESIGNS, I'll provide the website so I won't blabber too much. Cindy is going to have an in-home party and all of Paige's proceeds will go toward Cindy's goal. Not to mention that anyone who visits Paige's website and purchases some of the cool jewelry she has along with mentioning Cindy's name those proceeds will be donated as well. Paige hopes to raise $1,500.00 for Cindy's cause. WOW!!! Anyway the website is listed below and the new mantra is
"Visit Buy Donate" Paige will probably kill me for that one, oh well.
www.mysilpada.com/paige.albert
As always Ret and I can't thank you all enough.
Love Ret and Jack
It's been a month since my last post which has followed my normal path however I believe we'll on the web a little more frequent in the coming months.
We had our Dr. visit yesterday and as with most of them it was all good news. That said however we now know that the transplant procedure will probably begin in the next 3-4 weeks. As expected Ret's M-Protein count has leveled out, her last two counts were .9 and her oncologist expects that the results from yesterdays blood draw will be the same. Those results will be available Thursday or Friday this week. If the expected results come in we then revisit the Hutch for a Cancer reassessment which is standard procedure just to level set all the criteria to move forward. Unfortunately some of the tests Lil' Ret's not happy about because they've been done before and weren't much fun but she knows they are necessary. So we are moving on to the next phase of our journey.
As always I need to mention some special people, as you all are. My last post I mentioned Cindy Ellis and her personal challenge to complete a 13.1 mile cancer walk in memory of her son Brett, Ret and many who are stricken with this disease. I asked if any of you could donate to her cause please do so, and many of you did so thank you for that. Well our neighbor Paige Albert caught wind of Cindy's goal and decided to step up and help out. Paige is a in home sales representative for SILPADA DESIGNS, I'll provide the website so I won't blabber too much. Cindy is going to have an in-home party and all of Paige's proceeds will go toward Cindy's goal. Not to mention that anyone who visits Paige's website and purchases some of the cool jewelry she has along with mentioning Cindy's name those proceeds will be donated as well. Paige hopes to raise $1,500.00 for Cindy's cause. WOW!!! Anyway the website is listed below and the new mantra is
"Visit Buy Donate" Paige will probably kill me for that one, oh well.
www.mysilpada.com/paige.albert
As always Ret and I can't thank you all enough.
Love Ret and Jack
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Dr. Visit
Okay, Okay I know I'm late again but give me a break will ya!
Well we had our Oncology visit today and as we had hoped no real difficult news to report which is good. As mentioned in the past, the M-Protein level which dictates when Ret goes in for her transplant has not necessarily bottomed out, which is what you look for, however the percent of decline has somewhat stabilized. That said we may go in for the transplant sooner than the September time frame I mentioned last time. As most of you know these things are like being on a roller coaster we're just along for the ride..........can't wait to get off though!
As I've done in the past and will continue to do as we move along, is talk about all the things that you've done for Ret and I during this difficult time. I wanted to bring to your attention a special person as well as a special family that has endured many more hardships than any of us would want.
The Ellis family of Snohomish have been great friends of ours for a very long time. Steve, Cindy, Ret and I taught skiing at Stevens Pass for years. While Steve and I played softball together, trying to act young, Cindy and Ret raised our kids together at many ballparks around the state. Well Cindy has taken on a great personal challenge and that is to help raise money for cancer research. She has taken on this effort in memory of her son Brett, who passed due to cancer, and in hopes of helping others such as Lauretta fight this dreaded disease. Cindy herself has battled back from a life threatening brain aneurysm which makes her story even that much more remarkable. As all of you know I certainly can't do Cindy's cause justice by my babbling and wouldn't try. So if you could please paste the web address below onto your browser to read her story, hopefully understand her cause and donate if you can.
Ret and I can't thank her enough for wanting to be part of our journey in such a special way!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/nikesf09/cellis0le3
Love,
Ret & Jack
Well we had our Oncology visit today and as we had hoped no real difficult news to report which is good. As mentioned in the past, the M-Protein level which dictates when Ret goes in for her transplant has not necessarily bottomed out, which is what you look for, however the percent of decline has somewhat stabilized. That said we may go in for the transplant sooner than the September time frame I mentioned last time. As most of you know these things are like being on a roller coaster we're just along for the ride..........can't wait to get off though!
As I've done in the past and will continue to do as we move along, is talk about all the things that you've done for Ret and I during this difficult time. I wanted to bring to your attention a special person as well as a special family that has endured many more hardships than any of us would want.
The Ellis family of Snohomish have been great friends of ours for a very long time. Steve, Cindy, Ret and I taught skiing at Stevens Pass for years. While Steve and I played softball together, trying to act young, Cindy and Ret raised our kids together at many ballparks around the state. Well Cindy has taken on a great personal challenge and that is to help raise money for cancer research. She has taken on this effort in memory of her son Brett, who passed due to cancer, and in hopes of helping others such as Lauretta fight this dreaded disease. Cindy herself has battled back from a life threatening brain aneurysm which makes her story even that much more remarkable. As all of you know I certainly can't do Cindy's cause justice by my babbling and wouldn't try. So if you could please paste the web address below onto your browser to read her story, hopefully understand her cause and donate if you can.
Ret and I can't thank her enough for wanting to be part of our journey in such a special way!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/nikesf09/cellis0le3
Love,
Ret & Jack
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Late Again
Sorry All-
I know it's been a while again since my last post but as I've said before no news in this case is good news!!
We did meet with Ret's oncologist on 5/12 and again happy to report no real new developments. It was discovered however that the transplant probably will happen more around September than July as we originally thought. That development came about based on the doctors patient history dealing with this condition, not any real issues. So in most cases it seems that the person needs to be on the drug therapy longer than the prescribed 4 months. There certainly pro's and con's to that but safe to say "it is what it is" and we'll deal with that.
Oh, the reason why I'm late again Bob, Sharon and Pat is that we're back in Philly. We came back for a wedding and are staying to catch up with some great friends. Actually for those of you who have one of the "Expect Miracles" bracelets that Ret has, the friends we're staying with Mark and Mary are where those came from. Anyway we'll be home for the M-Day weekend at the river.
Thanks again to all.
Love,
Ret and Jack
I know it's been a while again since my last post but as I've said before no news in this case is good news!!
We did meet with Ret's oncologist on 5/12 and again happy to report no real new developments. It was discovered however that the transplant probably will happen more around September than July as we originally thought. That development came about based on the doctors patient history dealing with this condition, not any real issues. So in most cases it seems that the person needs to be on the drug therapy longer than the prescribed 4 months. There certainly pro's and con's to that but safe to say "it is what it is" and we'll deal with that.
Oh, the reason why I'm late again Bob, Sharon and Pat is that we're back in Philly. We came back for a wedding and are staying to catch up with some great friends. Actually for those of you who have one of the "Expect Miracles" bracelets that Ret has, the friends we're staying with Mark and Mary are where those came from. Anyway we'll be home for the M-Day weekend at the river.
Thanks again to all.
Love,
Ret and Jack
Monday, May 4, 2009
Trying to Keep Up
Sorry again I know it's been two weeks since my last post, but in many ways that's a good thing.
I will tell you when we get close to the transplant part of our journey I'll be posting much more often, it will be a very critical time as well as a time with the most information that I'm sure all of you will concerned about.
As I mentioned last time, we were working on and the doc did reduce the dosage of the pain med's that Ret is on, again because the side effects were such that it was difficult for her to manage her day as close to normal as she wanted. While we were correct in assuming that the side effects may change for the better, we were unprepared for the return of the constant pain. That said Ret has decided that the day to day side effects are easier to live with than the constant pain, so we're back on the heavy duty stuff. With that, I'm starting my own garage pharmacy over here with the surplus med's we have on hand to help with the finances! Kidding, kidding I'm just kidding, that's just what we need me in jail and Ret in the hospital. Alright I know what some of you are thinking, that's where I should be or maybe should have been anyway...........too bad I'm on the loose.
Funny story. As in my last post I mentioned this is the only way a significant number of you keep up with Rets condition and for you others just to hang in there through my rants. So here's the story. I post on Tuesday then head to Stanwood on Wednesday to take my step mom to the doc for her new ankle brace. I'm at TT for lunch, that's Taco Time for you non-aficionados, and run into Sharon Hanson a close high school friend of ours. First she asks what I'm doing there, feel like I'm banned from my own home town, I tell her then she asks how Ret is doing because shes gone to the blog and I haven't posted in while, I tell her I just posted the night before and not to worry Ret's just fine. Then I get home tell Ret the story and she tells me Bob Burns had sent her a message that day on her facebook page asking how she's doing because I hadn't posted lately and he wanted to know. Bob, Sharon sorry I'll try and do a better job.
It just goes to show you people pay more attention than you think....................................and for that Ret and I are truly grateful!!!
Love,
Ret & Jack
I will tell you when we get close to the transplant part of our journey I'll be posting much more often, it will be a very critical time as well as a time with the most information that I'm sure all of you will concerned about.
As I mentioned last time, we were working on and the doc did reduce the dosage of the pain med's that Ret is on, again because the side effects were such that it was difficult for her to manage her day as close to normal as she wanted. While we were correct in assuming that the side effects may change for the better, we were unprepared for the return of the constant pain. That said Ret has decided that the day to day side effects are easier to live with than the constant pain, so we're back on the heavy duty stuff. With that, I'm starting my own garage pharmacy over here with the surplus med's we have on hand to help with the finances! Kidding, kidding I'm just kidding, that's just what we need me in jail and Ret in the hospital. Alright I know what some of you are thinking, that's where I should be or maybe should have been anyway...........too bad I'm on the loose.
Funny story. As in my last post I mentioned this is the only way a significant number of you keep up with Rets condition and for you others just to hang in there through my rants. So here's the story. I post on Tuesday then head to Stanwood on Wednesday to take my step mom to the doc for her new ankle brace. I'm at TT for lunch, that's Taco Time for you non-aficionados, and run into Sharon Hanson a close high school friend of ours. First she asks what I'm doing there, feel like I'm banned from my own home town, I tell her then she asks how Ret is doing because shes gone to the blog and I haven't posted in while, I tell her I just posted the night before and not to worry Ret's just fine. Then I get home tell Ret the story and she tells me Bob Burns had sent her a message that day on her facebook page asking how she's doing because I hadn't posted lately and he wanted to know. Bob, Sharon sorry I'll try and do a better job.
It just goes to show you people pay more attention than you think....................................and for that Ret and I are truly grateful!!!
Love,
Ret & Jack
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
We Continue
Well it's been more than 2 weeks since my last post and for some of you I know it's a blessing, my rants and all. But for some of you it truly is the only way you keep track of Ret's progress, so for that first group hang in there.
We did meet Friday 4/10, with Ret's local oncologist in Edmonds and things seem to be moving along fine. We're working on changing the dosages of some of the med's to hopefully reduce the "morning sickness" feeling, which on some days is all day, the doc is great and certainly willing to do what's best as long as the desired results for the cancer aren't jeopardized so that's good. We're still somewhat on plan for the transplant in early summer, the one change might be this however. The measure of the meds effectiveness is if Ret's M-Protein, "The Bad Guy's" drops in count and the goal is to get that count as low as possible before the transplant, so if that count continues to drop then they will continue the drug therapy longer resulting in a later start for the transplant. A little explanation on the M-Protein. Just think of the bone marrow as a pipe only so big, meaning it can carry only so much. So what's happening is the M-Protein, "Bad Guy" is mutating at a much greater rate than normal thus crowding out all the "Good Guys" so they can't do their work. Again they want to get that count as low as possible before the transplant. Possibly moving the timeline a little later into the summer than we originally thought, but again that's if in fact the count continues to drop if it levels off we'll go as planned.
A couple of cool things. The cards and letters just keep on coming, she hands me each one and says "oh you need to read this one", I know I've said this before but it really does brighten Ret's day. Oh yea girls weekend, the gang from high school, happened at the river this last weekend I know they had fun, I could tell by all the hooting and hollering in the background when I called, but it was holy hell on me! It was the first time we had been apart since this whole thing started. So instead of camping out across the river on the island with my binoculars, spotlight and being a real pest, I stayed up river at Norm and Carol Formo's and just called, not too far away just in case Ret needed me. Somehow the girls pulled it off!
Again thanks for all your heartfelt wishes.
Love,
Ret & Jack
We did meet Friday 4/10, with Ret's local oncologist in Edmonds and things seem to be moving along fine. We're working on changing the dosages of some of the med's to hopefully reduce the "morning sickness" feeling, which on some days is all day, the doc is great and certainly willing to do what's best as long as the desired results for the cancer aren't jeopardized so that's good. We're still somewhat on plan for the transplant in early summer, the one change might be this however. The measure of the meds effectiveness is if Ret's M-Protein, "The Bad Guy's" drops in count and the goal is to get that count as low as possible before the transplant, so if that count continues to drop then they will continue the drug therapy longer resulting in a later start for the transplant. A little explanation on the M-Protein. Just think of the bone marrow as a pipe only so big, meaning it can carry only so much. So what's happening is the M-Protein, "Bad Guy" is mutating at a much greater rate than normal thus crowding out all the "Good Guys" so they can't do their work. Again they want to get that count as low as possible before the transplant. Possibly moving the timeline a little later into the summer than we originally thought, but again that's if in fact the count continues to drop if it levels off we'll go as planned.
A couple of cool things. The cards and letters just keep on coming, she hands me each one and says "oh you need to read this one", I know I've said this before but it really does brighten Ret's day. Oh yea girls weekend, the gang from high school, happened at the river this last weekend I know they had fun, I could tell by all the hooting and hollering in the background when I called, but it was holy hell on me! It was the first time we had been apart since this whole thing started. So instead of camping out across the river on the island with my binoculars, spotlight and being a real pest, I stayed up river at Norm and Carol Formo's and just called, not too far away just in case Ret needed me. Somehow the girls pulled it off!
Again thanks for all your heartfelt wishes.
Love,
Ret & Jack
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
One Week Post-Hutch Visit
Well this will be a short one.........and that's a good thing. A little over a week since our visit to the Hutch and things are about the same. One thing though there seems to be a little more "morning sickness" than normal that hangs around or better said just pops up during the day. Not sure if that's the additional meds or just a phase I guess that will be one more question for the doc's. Ret hasn't slowed down too much a couple days a week at work, still planing girls weekend over at Entiat plus trying to cram in enough summer before we actually have to stay in Seattle for that 6-7 month period when we need to be close to the Hutch. So I guess that means trips over Stevens Pass every weekend until they make us stay home, not like we wouldn't do it anyway. Just trying to stay as normal as possible.
As I mentioned last week, man the cards and letters keep coming which is a great thing they certainly bring a huge smile to Ret's face. Just one little fun thing and I'll give my fingers and your minds a rest. Mike Leys, TJ's best man from Philly wife Jess and little guy Toby sent a little homemade photo album which was really cool. As you can imagine a ton of pic's mostly of "The Tobster" at the beach reeling in the babes, cruising on mom and dads boat in Chesapeake Bay, carving some major arch's on the mountain and just being a normally cool 3 year old. Mike has always called Ret mom, right from the time he and TJ met at school back in Philly, so to have her second son and his family send treasured moments to her is really special.
Love,
Ret and Jack
As I mentioned last week, man the cards and letters keep coming which is a great thing they certainly bring a huge smile to Ret's face. Just one little fun thing and I'll give my fingers and your minds a rest. Mike Leys, TJ's best man from Philly wife Jess and little guy Toby sent a little homemade photo album which was really cool. As you can imagine a ton of pic's mostly of "The Tobster" at the beach reeling in the babes, cruising on mom and dads boat in Chesapeake Bay, carving some major arch's on the mountain and just being a normally cool 3 year old. Mike has always called Ret mom, right from the time he and TJ met at school back in Philly, so to have her second son and his family send treasured moments to her is really special.
Love,
Ret and Jack
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