Before I tell you about my bone marrow biopsy today let me take this opportunity to thank each of you who read this blog and who are on this journey with Carole and me through prayer, friendship and encouragement. It is nothing short of a miracle of God’s healing and the genius of medical science that I have been able to help Carole around the house, return to work, take a trip with the officers and am feeling so good. It is a humbling experience to know I have so many people petitioning Heaven on my behalf. Saying thank you seems inadequate.
Today Carole and I drove to Dr. Collin’s clinic for my bone marrow biopsy. Carole thought I had previously had one but I told her and can tell you that what I experienced today I had never experienced before!
Two lovely ladies asked if my wife wanted to be in the room during the procedure with me. I assured them she did not! I don’t have eyes in back of my head so I could not see the instruments they used but I’ll describe the process as I know it to be true….
First the lady in charge of the needles decided which hip she felt was best (emphasis on her pushing and me feeling it.) Then she put anesthetic on it. Then she numbed the area with Lynocane (not sure that is how it is spelled but it a numbing injection except that bones can not be numbed!) Then she stuck a needle into my right hip bone and withdrew the marrow from that bone into her syringe. The contents will be analyzed and my cancer re-staged. She wanted to be sure she had enough (I’m guessing) so she did the same thing a second time.
They then asked if they could take a “sample” of my bone for the purpose of research. I had to sign some consent forms which I did and this time they took a sliver about 3/4 of an inch long off my hip bone. They let me see it. They told me it will be kept forever. I don’t know what that means but I guess it means that at least part of me will always be in Texas!
Next Monday I return for more tests (skeletal scan, pulmonary, and heart-health) and to see a social worker. Carole and I are going to my North American Division meetings and when we return I’ll meet with Dr. Collins who will go over all the test results and I’ll sign the consent forms for the transplant and they’ll begin giving me injections to appeal to the stem cells to come out of my bones (or something like that). Please pray they do because the alternative isn’t much fun either. Once harvested they give me one heavy dose of chemo and wait 48 hours until they infuse my own cells back into the blood stream to start their way back into the marrow to make my own blood.
They gave us the consent forms today to read through in advance of all this and Carole stopped reading after page two. The truth is that there is risk in living. There is risk in my not having the transplant and a risk in having it. My faith is in the Master Physician who has seen me through this so far. Depending upon my ability to avoid infection I will be treated as an out-patient. Carole and I will be in student housing near the clinic where I’ll go every day for labs and check-ups. I’m not expecting any of this process to be fun but I am expecting to be back to my family and my work and, God willing, feeling even better than I do today.
Carole and I value your continued prayers,
~Doug
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Amazing
Today one of our supportive physician friends not connected directly to Doug's case wrote this in response to my most recent blog:
"Did the Dr. mention that stem cells (of any sort) are stored at -197 degrees below 0 Celsius and when they are thawed out, they do their work? I think that some cells have been thawed after 20 years and done their work. It is still so amazing to me!"
No, Doc, Dr. Collins didn't tell us those fascinating details.
Thanks for your wonderful insight. We agree with you. That is amazing!!!!
~Carole
"Did the Dr. mention that stem cells (of any sort) are stored at -197 degrees below 0 Celsius and when they are thawed out, they do their work? I think that some cells have been thawed after 20 years and done their work. It is still so amazing to me!"
No, Doc, Dr. Collins didn't tell us those fascinating details.
Thanks for your wonderful insight. We agree with you. That is amazing!!!!
~Carole
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
UTSWMC Consultation (long)
It has been awhile since we’ve chatted. There hasn’t really been much to tell you about other than the two days of snow fall last week that closed schools and some businesses here in North Texas. Having spent the majority of our careers up North, we smile at how little snow it takes to shut things down here.
When we lived in Maine we had so much snow we had to call in a back hoe to take the top layer of snow off the sides of our driveway so it wouldn’t collapse on us. I won’t bore you with our snow stories from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Washington State.
Today it was 80 degrees for a high today(yep the snow melted!) and a beautiful day to travel to Dallas for the consultation with Dr. Collins and his team regarding Doug’s bone marrow/stem cell transplant (hereafter referenced as I write simply transplant).
His appointment was at 1 p.m. at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s (UTSWMC) Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Program in Dallas. For those of you who have flown into Love Field in Dallas on Southwest Airlines, the medical district of Dallas is in that vicinity. The complex is HUGE and really a city within a city comprised of many buildings. We are lucky to live so close to such specialized services.
Dr. Collin’s office, lab and clinic is in the Seay Building named after a Dallas couple who have given more than 35 million dollars to UTSW and Southwestern Medical Foundation as well as to other hospitals in Texas. The structure is stunning. The info sheet says that the building houses some of "the most ambitious research and clinical programs in the world". You even have to use valet parking. There is no other option—and patients don’t receive any validation sticker either.
The moment we walked into the glassed entrance we gasped at the largest and most beautiful Chihuly blown glass structure in brilliant red-orange. Its platform is a black granite water bed. We knew it was a Chihuly because we were privileged to see some of Dale Chihuly’s work when it was on tour several years ago in Atlanta thanks to my cousin and his wife who live there. Little did we dream then how much his art would come to mean to us now.
You can get a taste at http://www.chihuly.com/ and actually view what I can’t describe in words in the entrance of the Seay Building http://www.chihuly.com/installations/public/Art/seaytowerB.html According to the description the receptionist in the lobby gave us, the tower includes 1,100 hand-blown glass elements which were flown from Mr. Chihuly's workshop in Seattle, Washington and assembled on-site in the Seay Building.
The first stop we made upstairs was to see the receptionist. Much of the pre-registration was done via Internet and mail. Then on to Dr. Collin’s lab for another blood draw. After waiting only a few minutes we were escorted through a room with the now-familiar chemo chairs (with patients receiving treatment) then on into a room where Doug’s “vital” signs were taken. Afterwards that gentleman took us to a room with the name plate “Biopsy” on it. Nothing had been said about having a biopsy today. We were told Dr. Collins would be in to see us.
Providentially for him Doug spied a copy of “Flying” magazine on the ledge. Those of you who don’t know it, Doug has a private pilot’s license that is now out of date. He once co-owned a small plane with a buddy when we lived in Santa Barbara, California, when we had no children and when he could afford airplane fuel. Doug would let the Flying magazine subscriptions he didn’t have time to read pile up with other journals. When it was time for some conference meeting he’d take them along to read!! This was before computers and the type of things young ministers did back then when bored at the type of meetings Doug now hosts as part of his job!
We learned that Dr. Collins is older than he looks. He took his cancer training at University of California Los Angeles. His clinic only deals with blood disorder cancers.
He did a brief examination and asked Doug some questions. He told us he needed to gather more of Doug’s previous test results and talk again with Dr. Mandell to be sure they are reading off the same page. Then he launched in to a very simple explanation of what a transplant for Multiple Myeloma entails.
He noted that from the records it looked like at time of diagnosis Doug had been very ill but up until that time had been in general good health except for Asthma. He noted Doug has responded very well to the treatment he has been given from Dr. Mandell. (They know each other which is good.) Doug agreed and told Dr. Collins he has been to work at his office for the last month and feels the best he has felt in the past 5 months.
Dr. Collins said the first step they’ll do is a total work up to be sure all the organs of Doug’s body can tolerate the heavy dose of chemo. This will take several trips back to UTSWMC for the various tests. He didn’t expect any problems and said Doug looked like a good candidate for the harvest and return of his own stem cells, not a donors. That is good news!
After the tests Doug will have a central line, Neostar catheter, installed. It is a flexible tube that is inserted into a large vein on the right side of his chest that leaves the body as one tube but with three branches. The line allows the medical team to give large amounts of fluid, to withdraw blood as well as administer the chemo drug. They also use the catheter to collect the peripheral blood stem cells before transplant and return them after.
A surgeon puts in the line in the operating room under local “sleepy drugs” like those for a colonoscopy. Then Doug will spend the day in day surgery clinic for up to six hours.
The next time goes back he'll be given shots to stimulate the stem cells and when enough are harvested they are frozen. This can take 3-5 sessions with one 4 hour session per day. He doesn't loose blood--they just cycle it in and out of his body. During this "harvest" time Doug will drive the 1 hour from our home to the clinic and back as an out patient. Enough stem cells will be kept frozen to do a second transplant should that be needed in the future.
After his catheter is installed the transplant—which basically is the one-time high level dose of chemo-- the heaviest doses of chemo he’ll have received to date --may be done in one of the clinic chairs!! This was a surprise. The chemo dosage is given within 15-30 minutes time-frame but along with other liquids, anti nausea drugs, etc. the entire process takes longer. Overall this process is nothing as we had imagined it. The goal is to slam the cancer cells so they can not be recognized. He will probably loose his hair this time….
Then they will monitor Doug closely every day for infection. He will not be producing his own blood. He’ll probably need one or more blood transfusions. He won't feel good!!!! Two days after the chemo, Doug’s stem cells are unfrozen and reentered into his blood just as they were harvested out of it through his Neostar catheter attached to the machine that does the work. The next 10 days are critical and he will be given antibiotics to ward off infection.
During the time he may be an outpatient or spend part of the time hospitalized. They can arrange for us to stay in an apartment 2 blocks away because we live too far to be on alert during the crucial days when he stops making his own blood before the stems cells kick in again (not a medical term, but you get the picture) and start working normally. When Doug needs to be hospitalized it will be on a special unit with specialized care and a special air filtration system. He is not to have visitors and probably wouldn’t feel like it anyway but if I want to stay I was told there is a “cot” in the room.
I told Dr. Collins I’d be more than glad to visit him in the hospital and not feel responsible if his fever spikes, etc. Doug does not want me to sleep on a cot in his room so I’m announcing this right now that at his request I will probably honor it for my health’s sake. Have you ever tried to get sleep in a hospital??? Dr. Collins said the team will keep a careful watch on him always. I can stay but it is not necessary.
Doug will be under Dr. Collins team's care for about 6 weeks and then returned to Dr. Mandell here in Fort Worth for follow-up care. The actually transplant will probably take place the first of May.
Currently they can’t sell the transplant process as a cure but remission is where no cancer is visible in any test. Dr. Collins encouraged us when he said that currently there is so many advances in research that they like to have patients think of myeloma as a chronic disease that has to be maintained and monitored. With Multiple Myeloma the combinations of therapies and new drugs in clinical trials is giving encouraging results and moving rapidly as far as science and medicine is concerned.
We know that the transplant process is not as simple as Dr. Collins made it sound. We know it won't be easy. It is, however, a relief to know what is ahead and in many ways we were encouraged by what we learned today.
When we lived in Maine we had so much snow we had to call in a back hoe to take the top layer of snow off the sides of our driveway so it wouldn’t collapse on us. I won’t bore you with our snow stories from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Washington State.
Today it was 80 degrees for a high today(yep the snow melted!) and a beautiful day to travel to Dallas for the consultation with Dr. Collins and his team regarding Doug’s bone marrow/stem cell transplant (hereafter referenced as I write simply transplant).
His appointment was at 1 p.m. at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s (UTSWMC) Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Program in Dallas. For those of you who have flown into Love Field in Dallas on Southwest Airlines, the medical district of Dallas is in that vicinity. The complex is HUGE and really a city within a city comprised of many buildings. We are lucky to live so close to such specialized services.
Dr. Collin’s office, lab and clinic is in the Seay Building named after a Dallas couple who have given more than 35 million dollars to UTSW and Southwestern Medical Foundation as well as to other hospitals in Texas. The structure is stunning. The info sheet says that the building houses some of "the most ambitious research and clinical programs in the world". You even have to use valet parking. There is no other option—and patients don’t receive any validation sticker either.
The moment we walked into the glassed entrance we gasped at the largest and most beautiful Chihuly blown glass structure in brilliant red-orange. Its platform is a black granite water bed. We knew it was a Chihuly because we were privileged to see some of Dale Chihuly’s work when it was on tour several years ago in Atlanta thanks to my cousin and his wife who live there. Little did we dream then how much his art would come to mean to us now.
You can get a taste at http://www.chihuly.com/ and actually view what I can’t describe in words in the entrance of the Seay Building http://www.chihuly.com/installations/public/Art/seaytowerB.html According to the description the receptionist in the lobby gave us, the tower includes 1,100 hand-blown glass elements which were flown from Mr. Chihuly's workshop in Seattle, Washington and assembled on-site in the Seay Building.
The first stop we made upstairs was to see the receptionist. Much of the pre-registration was done via Internet and mail. Then on to Dr. Collin’s lab for another blood draw. After waiting only a few minutes we were escorted through a room with the now-familiar chemo chairs (with patients receiving treatment) then on into a room where Doug’s “vital” signs were taken. Afterwards that gentleman took us to a room with the name plate “Biopsy” on it. Nothing had been said about having a biopsy today. We were told Dr. Collins would be in to see us.
Providentially for him Doug spied a copy of “Flying” magazine on the ledge. Those of you who don’t know it, Doug has a private pilot’s license that is now out of date. He once co-owned a small plane with a buddy when we lived in Santa Barbara, California, when we had no children and when he could afford airplane fuel. Doug would let the Flying magazine subscriptions he didn’t have time to read pile up with other journals. When it was time for some conference meeting he’d take them along to read!! This was before computers and the type of things young ministers did back then when bored at the type of meetings Doug now hosts as part of his job!
We learned that Dr. Collins is older than he looks. He took his cancer training at University of California Los Angeles. His clinic only deals with blood disorder cancers.
He did a brief examination and asked Doug some questions. He told us he needed to gather more of Doug’s previous test results and talk again with Dr. Mandell to be sure they are reading off the same page. Then he launched in to a very simple explanation of what a transplant for Multiple Myeloma entails.
He noted that from the records it looked like at time of diagnosis Doug had been very ill but up until that time had been in general good health except for Asthma. He noted Doug has responded very well to the treatment he has been given from Dr. Mandell. (They know each other which is good.) Doug agreed and told Dr. Collins he has been to work at his office for the last month and feels the best he has felt in the past 5 months.
Dr. Collins said the first step they’ll do is a total work up to be sure all the organs of Doug’s body can tolerate the heavy dose of chemo. This will take several trips back to UTSWMC for the various tests. He didn’t expect any problems and said Doug looked like a good candidate for the harvest and return of his own stem cells, not a donors. That is good news!
After the tests Doug will have a central line, Neostar catheter, installed. It is a flexible tube that is inserted into a large vein on the right side of his chest that leaves the body as one tube but with three branches. The line allows the medical team to give large amounts of fluid, to withdraw blood as well as administer the chemo drug. They also use the catheter to collect the peripheral blood stem cells before transplant and return them after.
A surgeon puts in the line in the operating room under local “sleepy drugs” like those for a colonoscopy. Then Doug will spend the day in day surgery clinic for up to six hours.
The next time goes back he'll be given shots to stimulate the stem cells and when enough are harvested they are frozen. This can take 3-5 sessions with one 4 hour session per day. He doesn't loose blood--they just cycle it in and out of his body. During this "harvest" time Doug will drive the 1 hour from our home to the clinic and back as an out patient. Enough stem cells will be kept frozen to do a second transplant should that be needed in the future.
After his catheter is installed the transplant—which basically is the one-time high level dose of chemo-- the heaviest doses of chemo he’ll have received to date --may be done in one of the clinic chairs!! This was a surprise. The chemo dosage is given within 15-30 minutes time-frame but along with other liquids, anti nausea drugs, etc. the entire process takes longer. Overall this process is nothing as we had imagined it. The goal is to slam the cancer cells so they can not be recognized. He will probably loose his hair this time….
Then they will monitor Doug closely every day for infection. He will not be producing his own blood. He’ll probably need one or more blood transfusions. He won't feel good!!!! Two days after the chemo, Doug’s stem cells are unfrozen and reentered into his blood just as they were harvested out of it through his Neostar catheter attached to the machine that does the work. The next 10 days are critical and he will be given antibiotics to ward off infection.
During the time he may be an outpatient or spend part of the time hospitalized. They can arrange for us to stay in an apartment 2 blocks away because we live too far to be on alert during the crucial days when he stops making his own blood before the stems cells kick in again (not a medical term, but you get the picture) and start working normally. When Doug needs to be hospitalized it will be on a special unit with specialized care and a special air filtration system. He is not to have visitors and probably wouldn’t feel like it anyway but if I want to stay I was told there is a “cot” in the room.
I told Dr. Collins I’d be more than glad to visit him in the hospital and not feel responsible if his fever spikes, etc. Doug does not want me to sleep on a cot in his room so I’m announcing this right now that at his request I will probably honor it for my health’s sake. Have you ever tried to get sleep in a hospital??? Dr. Collins said the team will keep a careful watch on him always. I can stay but it is not necessary.
Doug will be under Dr. Collins team's care for about 6 weeks and then returned to Dr. Mandell here in Fort Worth for follow-up care. The actually transplant will probably take place the first of May.
Currently they can’t sell the transplant process as a cure but remission is where no cancer is visible in any test. Dr. Collins encouraged us when he said that currently there is so many advances in research that they like to have patients think of myeloma as a chronic disease that has to be maintained and monitored. With Multiple Myeloma the combinations of therapies and new drugs in clinical trials is giving encouraging results and moving rapidly as far as science and medicine is concerned.
We know that the transplant process is not as simple as Dr. Collins made it sound. We know it won't be easy. It is, however, a relief to know what is ahead and in many ways we were encouraged by what we learned today.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Keeping in Touch
Today was to be the day we were going to Dallas for Doug’s bone marrow transplant consultation with Dr. Collins. I messed things up!
Last Friday I became one of the nation’s statistics of one who got a flu shot and, for no extra charge, the flu! Today I’m much stronger but Doug didn’t want me to push myself nor did he want to go to the consultation without me. The doctor isn’t available next week so the appointment is rescheduled for March 12th.
This gives me opportunity to share something else about our family and its love for one another with you. Our children have been marvelous in keeping in touch with us from a distance. (One lives in Seattle and the other in New York City.) Throughout Doug’s illness, their love and concern for their Dad has shown in many different ways.
One of the unique ways of keeping in touch has been from our New York kids. They send a postcard everyday printed with the pithy quotes of various famous and not-so-famous people. They have done this every day since January! I’ve just randomly selected a few of those messages received in the last few days to share with you.
To me, faith is not just a noun but also a verb. ~Jimmy Carter
It’s not the load that breaks you down; it’s the way you carry it.
~Lena Horne
During chemo, you’re more tired than you’ve ever been. It’s like a cloud passing over the sun, and suddenly you’re out. You don’t know how you’ll answer the door when your groceries are delivered. But you also find that you’re stronger than you’ve ever been. You’re clear. Your mortality is at optimal distance, not up so close that it obscures everything else, but close enough to give you depth perception. Previously, it has taken you weeks, months, or years to discover the meaning of an experience. Now it’s instantaneous. ~Melissa Bank
For peace of mind, we need to resign as general manager of the universe. ~Larry Eisenberg
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by each experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Worry is as useless as a handle on a snowball. ~Mitzi Chandler
When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell. ~Lance Armstrong
We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival. ~Winston Churchill.
Physical strength is measured by what we can carry; spiritual by what we can bear. ~Author Unknown.
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading. ~Oswald Chambers
Cancer is a word, not a sentence. ~John Diamond
I better stop. They are all so good. Not all about cancer but all appropriate, helpful reminders on any given day for both Doug and me. The fact the messages are mixed in with our bills is an added plus!
~Carole
Last Friday I became one of the nation’s statistics of one who got a flu shot and, for no extra charge, the flu! Today I’m much stronger but Doug didn’t want me to push myself nor did he want to go to the consultation without me. The doctor isn’t available next week so the appointment is rescheduled for March 12th.
This gives me opportunity to share something else about our family and its love for one another with you. Our children have been marvelous in keeping in touch with us from a distance. (One lives in Seattle and the other in New York City.) Throughout Doug’s illness, their love and concern for their Dad has shown in many different ways.
One of the unique ways of keeping in touch has been from our New York kids. They send a postcard everyday printed with the pithy quotes of various famous and not-so-famous people. They have done this every day since January! I’ve just randomly selected a few of those messages received in the last few days to share with you.
To me, faith is not just a noun but also a verb. ~Jimmy Carter
It’s not the load that breaks you down; it’s the way you carry it.
~Lena Horne
During chemo, you’re more tired than you’ve ever been. It’s like a cloud passing over the sun, and suddenly you’re out. You don’t know how you’ll answer the door when your groceries are delivered. But you also find that you’re stronger than you’ve ever been. You’re clear. Your mortality is at optimal distance, not up so close that it obscures everything else, but close enough to give you depth perception. Previously, it has taken you weeks, months, or years to discover the meaning of an experience. Now it’s instantaneous. ~Melissa Bank
For peace of mind, we need to resign as general manager of the universe. ~Larry Eisenberg
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by each experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Worry is as useless as a handle on a snowball. ~Mitzi Chandler
When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell. ~Lance Armstrong
We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival. ~Winston Churchill.
Physical strength is measured by what we can carry; spiritual by what we can bear. ~Author Unknown.
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading. ~Oswald Chambers
Cancer is a word, not a sentence. ~John Diamond
I better stop. They are all so good. Not all about cancer but all appropriate, helpful reminders on any given day for both Doug and me. The fact the messages are mixed in with our bills is an added plus!
~Carole
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Our Date at the Meyerson
Last week Doug didn’t have to take any medication except if he needed something for pain. He felt the best he has felt in months as our weekend activity will indicate.
This weekend was the first Doug and I have worshiped together in a church building in four months. Thanks to radio and the Internet we’ve experienced long-distant church worship here at home by listening to the church service of our home church on radio and by tuning in to services streamed over the Internet. During the in-church worship this weekend Doug introduced the new senior pastor of one of the Fort Worth churches. In the afternoon we visited with friends and stopped to spend time with my Mom.
It also seemed to me that this weekend Doug made up for much of what he’d not done around our home. He didn’t even take a nap Sunday before friends picked us up for our evening out.
What a treat to be together at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas regarded as one of the premier music halls in the nation. The architectural design and acoustics of the Meyerson are spectacular. If you have never been there in person it is worth your time to enlarge the prints at http://www.pcfandp.com/a/p/8103/s.html to view this amazing structure for yourself.
The Meyerson is home to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Turtle Creek Chorale and Dallas Wind Symphony. Sunday night Southwestern Adventist University provided university, high school, and academy students the opportunity to perform in this world-class concert hall. Three hundred young people filled the hall with band, woodwind, festival guitar and choir music. Doug and I got to hold hands and lap up the eye candy and the marvelous music which was performed flawlessly.
The program notes indicate that “A Night at the Meyerson” has been a tradition of Southwestern Adventist University’s Fine Arts Department for fifteen years. According to the University’s President the goal of having the evening is “to inspire young musicians and to provide scholarships and musical equipment for our music department.”
In addition to preparing their own university students, the dedicated music faculty schedule trips to the 16 other schools throughout the school year to prepare students for the yearly music festival in February.
This year as well as accompanying the choirs on the piano, Professor John Boyd opened the pipes of the majestic organ in a concert solo as well as really adding intensity to a couple of the band and choir numbers. Conductors Rudyard Dennis, Henry Welch, and David R. Anavitarte were as professional as any of the regulars that perform at the Meyerson. The behavior of the students was to our eyes impeccable.
Our date was perfect in every way!
~Carole
This weekend was the first Doug and I have worshiped together in a church building in four months. Thanks to radio and the Internet we’ve experienced long-distant church worship here at home by listening to the church service of our home church on radio and by tuning in to services streamed over the Internet. During the in-church worship this weekend Doug introduced the new senior pastor of one of the Fort Worth churches. In the afternoon we visited with friends and stopped to spend time with my Mom.
It also seemed to me that this weekend Doug made up for much of what he’d not done around our home. He didn’t even take a nap Sunday before friends picked us up for our evening out.
What a treat to be together at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas regarded as one of the premier music halls in the nation. The architectural design and acoustics of the Meyerson are spectacular. If you have never been there in person it is worth your time to enlarge the prints at http://www.pcfandp.com/a/p/8103/s.html to view this amazing structure for yourself.
The Meyerson is home to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Turtle Creek Chorale and Dallas Wind Symphony. Sunday night Southwestern Adventist University provided university, high school, and academy students the opportunity to perform in this world-class concert hall. Three hundred young people filled the hall with band, woodwind, festival guitar and choir music. Doug and I got to hold hands and lap up the eye candy and the marvelous music which was performed flawlessly.
The program notes indicate that “A Night at the Meyerson” has been a tradition of Southwestern Adventist University’s Fine Arts Department for fifteen years. According to the University’s President the goal of having the evening is “to inspire young musicians and to provide scholarships and musical equipment for our music department.”
In addition to preparing their own university students, the dedicated music faculty schedule trips to the 16 other schools throughout the school year to prepare students for the yearly music festival in February.
This year as well as accompanying the choirs on the piano, Professor John Boyd opened the pipes of the majestic organ in a concert solo as well as really adding intensity to a couple of the band and choir numbers. Conductors Rudyard Dennis, Henry Welch, and David R. Anavitarte were as professional as any of the regulars that perform at the Meyerson. The behavior of the students was to our eyes impeccable.
Our date was perfect in every way!
~Carole
2-11-08, Part II
We have been busy “chewing” on the document from Greece. We’ve shown the document to our family doctor, the doctors and nurse practitioner connected directly to Doug’s cancer treatment as well as our oncologist/hematologist friend not connected directly to Doug’s treatment. We didn’t want to start taking supplements in mass until we received clearance from Doug’s kidney doc and his oncologist/hematologist.
The kidney doc pulled one supplement (Rhodiola and Ginseng Complex). The oncologist said he had received the document from the alternative medicine clinic, looked at it yet couldn’t validate anything from a lab with which he had no connection. However because Doug’s over-all numbers are so good all he asked was that Doug take the nutritional supplements two-three hours before taking his chemo drug which he takes orally at bedtime. As it turns out the final supplements are scheduled to be taken with the last meal of the day which we usually eat by 5:30 or 6 p.m.
In the Greece lab they isolated Doug's malignant cells using “Oncoquick” with a membrane that isolates malignant cells from normal cells. Then they developed more than 41 cell cultures to which they added various nutritional supplements and chemo drugs. We have the report which includes those which worked to inhibit or kill Doug's cancer cells and those which do not. It is in a consistent language, the technicality of which I’ll spare you. What works in Doug’s blood is highlighted so we don’t have to plow through every detail.
Of significance is that Thalidomide (the chemo drug which Doug has taken since November 1st) worked the best to “inhibit and induce Doug’s cancer cell’s death but cannot induce the invasion activity of the cancer cells”. From the very beginning we have known that only the bone marrow transplant will wipe all cancer cells out—and then only for an unknown time period as this type of cancer is not one that can be taken out via surgery nor have they yet found a cure. He will have a better quality of life afterwards.
The report also included 5 other “options” of chemo therapy that would work for Doug, some less toxic than others and only one other that is covered by our insurance.
Of greatest value to us is the knowledge of those supplements that the cultures indicate would or would not impact Doug’s cancer cells and therefore gave us some informed direction.
While it would be impossible for the lab in Greece to test every supplement on the market today (as you’d know if you’ve been in a natural “food” store lately) I’ll give you a just a few examples of what did not show any impact on Doug’s cancer as per the Greece testing: Acai berry, Mangosteen (Xanthone), mistletoe, grape seed supreme, curcumin (turmeric), aloe vera extract, Echinacea, green tea extract, ascorbic acid (as in IV vitamin C), hydrogen peroxide (which we understand is given IV--Yikes!!!!), to name a few. The document also indicates that Doug’s cancer cells do not respond to hyperthermia or radiation.
Based upon the finding in Greece the doctors at the alternative clinic also eliminated the need for green fruit drinks, the need for a coffee enemas 1-2 times/wk when not on chemo, etc. etc. much of this and those in the above paragraph suggestions we’ve been given by others wanting to help by sharing what they have known to have worked on others with cancer.
The flip side is that several other supplements tested worked well enough to kill or at least slow the cancer cells activity anywhere from 15% to 45% within the culture. These, along with Thalidamide, are the ones we’ll focus on-- as well as those known through clinical trials and observation by the doctor’s at the alternative clinic to create cell health in the good cells damaged by the toxic treatments required for cancer treatment. Having this information has eliminated our need to act in panic, grab at anything someone suggests or to wonder if we did everything possible.
We are to notify the alternative clinic if Doug receives any new prescriptions or any new chemo drugs. They will monitor for compatibility. During the bone marrow transplant Doug will have to eliminate all supplements. The window of time for their use to build Doug up for that procedure is now.
Doug’s oncologist and kidney docs base their time of referral for his bone marrow transplant on his blood and urine chemistry. The time is right to begin that process. Doug has been referred for the initial consultation with Dr. Collins who heads the bone marrow transplant center at University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas. We have much to learn of what is ahead of us.
The good news is that, according to Doug’s oncologist, Doug has 1/10th of the cancer cells he had when he first began treatment. Maybe I mentioned that before but that fact is worth repeating. This is the reason why Doug has felt well enough most days these last two weeks to return to work part-time. PTL! He's in his office (or a committee :-) again this week.
~Carole
The kidney doc pulled one supplement (Rhodiola and Ginseng Complex). The oncologist said he had received the document from the alternative medicine clinic, looked at it yet couldn’t validate anything from a lab with which he had no connection. However because Doug’s over-all numbers are so good all he asked was that Doug take the nutritional supplements two-three hours before taking his chemo drug which he takes orally at bedtime. As it turns out the final supplements are scheduled to be taken with the last meal of the day which we usually eat by 5:30 or 6 p.m.
In the Greece lab they isolated Doug's malignant cells using “Oncoquick” with a membrane that isolates malignant cells from normal cells. Then they developed more than 41 cell cultures to which they added various nutritional supplements and chemo drugs. We have the report which includes those which worked to inhibit or kill Doug's cancer cells and those which do not. It is in a consistent language, the technicality of which I’ll spare you. What works in Doug’s blood is highlighted so we don’t have to plow through every detail.
Of significance is that Thalidomide (the chemo drug which Doug has taken since November 1st) worked the best to “inhibit and induce Doug’s cancer cell’s death but cannot induce the invasion activity of the cancer cells”. From the very beginning we have known that only the bone marrow transplant will wipe all cancer cells out—and then only for an unknown time period as this type of cancer is not one that can be taken out via surgery nor have they yet found a cure. He will have a better quality of life afterwards.
The report also included 5 other “options” of chemo therapy that would work for Doug, some less toxic than others and only one other that is covered by our insurance.
Of greatest value to us is the knowledge of those supplements that the cultures indicate would or would not impact Doug’s cancer cells and therefore gave us some informed direction.
While it would be impossible for the lab in Greece to test every supplement on the market today (as you’d know if you’ve been in a natural “food” store lately) I’ll give you a just a few examples of what did not show any impact on Doug’s cancer as per the Greece testing: Acai berry, Mangosteen (Xanthone), mistletoe, grape seed supreme, curcumin (turmeric), aloe vera extract, Echinacea, green tea extract, ascorbic acid (as in IV vitamin C), hydrogen peroxide (which we understand is given IV--Yikes!!!!), to name a few. The document also indicates that Doug’s cancer cells do not respond to hyperthermia or radiation.
Based upon the finding in Greece the doctors at the alternative clinic also eliminated the need for green fruit drinks, the need for a coffee enemas 1-2 times/wk when not on chemo, etc. etc. much of this and those in the above paragraph suggestions we’ve been given by others wanting to help by sharing what they have known to have worked on others with cancer.
The flip side is that several other supplements tested worked well enough to kill or at least slow the cancer cells activity anywhere from 15% to 45% within the culture. These, along with Thalidamide, are the ones we’ll focus on-- as well as those known through clinical trials and observation by the doctor’s at the alternative clinic to create cell health in the good cells damaged by the toxic treatments required for cancer treatment. Having this information has eliminated our need to act in panic, grab at anything someone suggests or to wonder if we did everything possible.
We are to notify the alternative clinic if Doug receives any new prescriptions or any new chemo drugs. They will monitor for compatibility. During the bone marrow transplant Doug will have to eliminate all supplements. The window of time for their use to build Doug up for that procedure is now.
Doug’s oncologist and kidney docs base their time of referral for his bone marrow transplant on his blood and urine chemistry. The time is right to begin that process. Doug has been referred for the initial consultation with Dr. Collins who heads the bone marrow transplant center at University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas. We have much to learn of what is ahead of us.
The good news is that, according to Doug’s oncologist, Doug has 1/10th of the cancer cells he had when he first began treatment. Maybe I mentioned that before but that fact is worth repeating. This is the reason why Doug has felt well enough most days these last two weeks to return to work part-time. PTL! He's in his office (or a committee :-) again this week.
~Carole
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
02-11-08, Part I
We are amazed how many of you tell us you check this blog regularly. I hate the days I disappointment you! For that reason I am letting you know in two parts about our day, yesterday, the 11th of February.
We used an alarm to get up yesterday. That was different :-) Doug was in charge of the Monday morning worship in his office that starts at 8 a.m. Staff and administration gather to start the week off all together with the One they ask to guide them throughout the work week.
Doug was in his office everyday last week for a good portion of the work-day. He'd get out of his car and, to conserve energy, sat the majority of the day at his desk. Usually he is in charge of Monday worship once per month. He has not been able to do that or be there for the past four months. On Monday it was the first time he stood before his colleagues to share what he has learned so far on his journey with cancer. It was a moving experience for all of us who listened.
At the conclusion of their usual review of the weekend and prayers for specific churches, schools, teachers and pastors throughout Texas, the President asked everyone to form a circle around Doug for prayer, touching Doug as they did, praising the Lord for the healing that has taken place and asking the Lord to continue to be with both of us.
I was in the audience because we left from the office to go North to the clinic to receive the results of the report that had been faxed from the Genetic Cancer Centre in Greece. We were eager to find out Doug's specific DNA receptivity to both chemo drugs as well as food and nutritional supliments that would help with cell health.
The reason this blog is part I is because I now have to digest the 20 pages of that fax and what the Doctor in Dallas went over with us. In many ways is greek to us (pardon the pun!) until we can re-read it ourselves.
What we do know is that we see the nurphrologist this coming Friday and our oncologist next Monday. We will seek their counsel before taking any of the suppliments, not because we think anything that was recommended would harm Doug rather because 1) all together they are expensive and 2) we have also received a call from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. That is where Doug will begin the process leading to a stem cell/bone marrow transplant. Supplements are used to increase the immune system and build up Doug's cells. At one point in the transplant process the immune systsem needs to be taken down to zero which is done using heavy doses of chemo drugs. These are therefore two conflicting options if we base it on timing alone.
What we don't know for sure is this: what is the right time in respect to quality of life and longevity? We would covet your prayers that when we make a decision we will not look back and know that we evaluated our options, sought appropriate expert counsel and that Doug will have a sense of the Holy Spirit's leading him.
You can look for 02-11-08, Part II later this week. The report is facinating but I didn't take molecular medicine in grad school!! It was interpreted for us but not at my speed of learning....
~Carole
We used an alarm to get up yesterday. That was different :-) Doug was in charge of the Monday morning worship in his office that starts at 8 a.m. Staff and administration gather to start the week off all together with the One they ask to guide them throughout the work week.
Doug was in his office everyday last week for a good portion of the work-day. He'd get out of his car and, to conserve energy, sat the majority of the day at his desk. Usually he is in charge of Monday worship once per month. He has not been able to do that or be there for the past four months. On Monday it was the first time he stood before his colleagues to share what he has learned so far on his journey with cancer. It was a moving experience for all of us who listened.
At the conclusion of their usual review of the weekend and prayers for specific churches, schools, teachers and pastors throughout Texas, the President asked everyone to form a circle around Doug for prayer, touching Doug as they did, praising the Lord for the healing that has taken place and asking the Lord to continue to be with both of us.
I was in the audience because we left from the office to go North to the clinic to receive the results of the report that had been faxed from the Genetic Cancer Centre in Greece. We were eager to find out Doug's specific DNA receptivity to both chemo drugs as well as food and nutritional supliments that would help with cell health.
The reason this blog is part I is because I now have to digest the 20 pages of that fax and what the Doctor in Dallas went over with us. In many ways is greek to us (pardon the pun!) until we can re-read it ourselves.
What we do know is that we see the nurphrologist this coming Friday and our oncologist next Monday. We will seek their counsel before taking any of the suppliments, not because we think anything that was recommended would harm Doug rather because 1) all together they are expensive and 2) we have also received a call from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. That is where Doug will begin the process leading to a stem cell/bone marrow transplant. Supplements are used to increase the immune system and build up Doug's cells. At one point in the transplant process the immune systsem needs to be taken down to zero which is done using heavy doses of chemo drugs. These are therefore two conflicting options if we base it on timing alone.
What we don't know for sure is this: what is the right time in respect to quality of life and longevity? We would covet your prayers that when we make a decision we will not look back and know that we evaluated our options, sought appropriate expert counsel and that Doug will have a sense of the Holy Spirit's leading him.
You can look for 02-11-08, Part II later this week. The report is facinating but I didn't take molecular medicine in grad school!! It was interpreted for us but not at my speed of learning....
~Carole
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)