The Journey Thus Far, Part 2

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Mom became bionic woman with her leg of steel. I'm still amazed she can move around with that inside. Anyways, now that she was more mobile it was time to start the serious work. We met with Dr. Hollister and he recommended a series of drug treatments followed by a stem cell transplant. He insisted that we get a second opinion from someone who could actually do the stem cell transplant. Quite a lot is involved and so they are usually done at cancer centers in hospitals.

Off we went to NYC to meet with Dr. Jaganaugh. He met with us (my sister, my mom and I) for a long time explaining MM and my mom's particular diagnosis. I remember it being really technical-though I also remember him trying to put it in terms we could understand and drawing pictures for us. Ultimately, my mom's insurance wouldn't cover him, so we had to find different doctor to get a second opinion from. Now looking back I think it was another moment of God's grace. All the traveling my mom has had to do to New Haven (where her current transplant specialist is) it would have been expensive and time consuming going into NYC that much. On top of that, I looked him up to figure out how to spell his name correctly and he is no longer at Sloan-Kettering. I'm glad the Lord lead us this direction, but at the time I remember being really annoyed that she couldn't go to her first choice. He was at the forefront of a lot of the successful research for treating MM. In comes doctor #3b, Dr. Cooper at the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven. His role in my mom's treatment was overseeing her stem cell transplant.

Before I go on I want to dispel any myths that maybe be going through your mind. My mom's particular stem cell transplant isn't the controversial kind you've heard about in the news with embryos being killed. It was an autologous stem cell transplant. Basically it is a bone marrow transplant but they harvest the stem cells differently. In a bone marrow transplant, they harvest the bone marrow from the hip bones using a needle usually performed as an operation. My mom had HER OWN cells harvested through her blood, similar to dialysis. I'll explain in more detail later of what she went through. But, for now, please know that no unborn babies were hurt during this process.

Dr. Cooper agreed with Dr. Hollister's assessment and sent her back to Hollister to begin drug treatment in preparation for a stem cell transplant. The plan was for her to take Thalidomide and Dexamethasone on a rotation schedule until enough cancer was killed off that they could do a stem cell transplant, which would hopefully 'reboot" her system. The side effects of these drugs were at times horrendous. Generally, the main concerns are drowsiness, peripheral neuropathy (numbness in arms and legs) and blood clots. But because my mom has a thyroid problem and is "pre-diabetic" (though my mom denied that one for a long time) there were other concerns that needed to be watch.

The dexamethasone can effect blood sugar levels so she was put on diabetic medicine and given insulin to inject herself with if needed. I remember one of the first outings after all this started she went to get her hair done. I went next door and got her a bagel (some sugar laden thing, I should have known better but she really wanted it). That night she tested her blood sugar, it was 300. (Normal blood sugars are like 80 I think.) So no more bagels for Mama. My mom had to be really careful with her eating. The dexamethasone was given in rounds so she's be on for 5 days off for 5 days, or something like that. When she was on she had to be careful of eating sugary foods. But when she was off, she had to be careful the levels didn't drop too low. Like at my nephews baptism. It was a nice day but long and my mom was off of the dexamethasone. By the time the reception came she was pretty weak. About 30 minutes into the reception my mom's friends came over to say that my mom needed to be taken home. I drove her home and checked her blood sugars, they were around 40. She was lightheaded, dizzy and tired. My mom told me to go back to the reception and I did for about 2 minutes, only to come back and stay the rest of the night with her. (I have learned, through all this, that my mom is a very strong & courageous woman. And I love her very much. But there are times that I have to ignore her words. I've since learned there were many times that she was quite sick but didn't want to bother anyone about it so said she was okay. MOM!)

These drug treatments went on from April to August 2005. She was also having Zometa injections amidst all this. Zometa is an IV drug given to slow the growth of the cancer, decrease bone pain and reduce fractures. Lots of months, lots of drugs, lots of blood work, lots of doctor visits. Then it was time for the transplant.