CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF!!!

 First, some cool pictures from deep inside the massive Mayo Clinic.

These pieces of artwork adorn/hang in the front main entrance.  After hours of discussion, Hanna and I have determined that they are blown-up replicas of actual Multiple Myeloma Cancer Cells.




There is no shortage of wheelchairs at the Mayo Clinic.  And they tend to disappear, similar to shopping carts.  A Security Guard told us there is a FaceBook page showing the weird and far away places Mayo shopping carts have been found.  One found in New Zealand wins the prize for most far away.  Hanna's, with her flowers and hot racing stripes, is the coolest and most popular.  


The view looking out our Exam Room today on the ninth floor, looking West towards home.  Interesting that nasty yellow jackets were hovering around the window (outside, thank goodness).  I guess they can fly this high.  Great entertainment while we waited for one of the most world-reknowned MM doctors ever to come on in.


As very organized, system-oriented accountants, we were amazed by the system they use to tell what exam room is in use and who is up to visit next.  Very colorful and organized and has a chart to help everyone on staff understand what the lights mean.

The News Today:

After a week of being poked and prodded, the huge Mayo Computer tallied the results of all the tests, Dr. Gertz sat down with us, and pronounced:

- Hanna is in "Very Good Partial Response".

- She is very healthy.

- The cancerous portion of her bone marrow has dropped from 80% to 2% and all other indicators (see that first blog post) are normal or dang close to it.

- All systems are go for takeoff!

The SCT will wipe out that remaining 2% of the cancer and provide for a long remission.  (Cancer always comes back at some time.)

Also, everything got officially (vs tentatively) scheduled and AAAAAA!!!!!!!  Our calendars are messed up.  The date for the transplant (day 0) has been moved to September 30th.  It had originally been tentatively scheduled for the 29th.)  One extra day to prepare, which has already been scheduled with some checking of some things health-wise and equipment-wise.  Today is now day -14.


Report on Day -15 (Thursday the 15th):

The day started with a Skeletal Imaging Exam.  Apparently it is just what it sounds like, an X-Ray of her entire body to look for fractures and lesions caused by MM.  She had several fractures to her back when she was first diagnosed.  The exam showed that those are healed and no new fractures have occurred.

Then the longest exam of the entire week, a Kidney Function Test.  Hanna was forced to drink a ton of water, have dye injected into her, and then expel it, all while medical professionals examined and watched.  It lasted right around three hours.  I got a lot done in the waiting room.  Unfortunately, this exam took place in the basement of the clinic, so no cool views or even yellow jackets to gawk at.

After a quick lunch in the Mayo Cafeteria (food isn't worth bragging about, but the place was pretty cool, very clean and the service top notch as always), we met with a Mayo Research Specialist who asked us to join a couple of research projects.  One is to track our demographics to help with future research into blood diseases.  The second project will use Hanna's blood samples and treatments and results for further research.  We enthusiastically signed up for both.  This type of research is what makes Mayo Clinic one of the best (if not the best) cancer hospital in the world.  We are grateful for those before us that also said "yes" so we can have the level of treatment we are getting here today.  We would be remiss to say "no".  Some interesting statistics (because we are numbers people):

- The two-year average survival rate for MM patients is 57.7%.  Mayo's two-year survival rate is 95.9%.

- An MM patient outside of Mayo Clinic is six times more likely to die within two years than a patient from Mayo.  4.1 times more within four years.

- The Mayo Clinic team performs over 500 Stem Cell Transplants per year.  Practice makes perfect!

Finally, we sat in a tiny classroom with several other MM patients and took in a class on Nutrition. Nutrition is critically important when it comes to recovery from a SCT.  And Hanna likely won't feel like eating, so this could be a challenge.  I (the Caretaker) am tasked with keeping a daily food and drink log to go over with the Nutritionist Daily.  My job because the patient likely won't be up to keeping one themselves.  She must have adequate protein and hydration.  Most of the class was regarding how to keep the food sanitized and free of bacteria.  With no white blood cells, or very few, for a two-week period, it will be easy for Hanna to catch a bug and even harder for her body to heal from one.  On the way out, she made it really clear, telling me "I'll keep my own log.  I plan to do so well that it won't bother me to do so."  YOU GO GIRL!!


Report on Day -14 (Friday the 16th):

All tests had been completed, so today was a lot of meeting with Doctors and Nurses and watching educational Mayo Videos.

First up was a nurse from the Transplant Team that went over the process again in great detail, including risks and benefits, what to do if something goes horribly wrong, the importance of staying away from bacteria, and answering all of our questions.  She spent nearly two hours with us.  At the end, she had us sign the official consent form to perform the procedure.  In case you are interested, I am supposed to watch Hanna for several things:  1. Ruptured Spleen (Growth Formula can cause this, but it is rare.)  (Go directly to ER).  2. Chest pains.  (Go directly to ER).  3. Difficulty breathing.  (Go directly to ER).  4. Fever of 100.4 or more (Call the Transplant 24-hour nurse station immediately).  Kind of scary stuff.  This is not accounting.  Also if anything seems weird at all, call that nurse.  They don't mind.  Putting on my big boy super caretaker pants.

Meeting with Dr. Gertz was next.  (He never did notice the yellow jackets.)

Finally, we visited with part of the surgery team that will place the port in Hanna's shoulder/chest next Tuesday.  Again, they took a lot of time with us, were cheerful and great, and answered all the questions we had.  Even Hanna's "so just how does the blood get into that tube when it's flowing with it?"  Patient and thorough staff.


Phase 1:  COMPLETE and SUCCESSFUL!  We start phase 2 tomorrow.  8am, she will receive her first growth factor injection to coax the stem cells out of her blood stream.


Thanks for reading our blog, praying for us, being our friends (and family too) and for all the flowers, personal messages, and etc.  It all helps and we're all gonna beat this.


Today's Miracle:

About a year ago, we were strongly and urgently prompted to look for an exit plan from our tax firm.  We weren't sure why.  Mission?  It's just time? Other?  We followed that prompting and started looking for the perfect person to take over our firm.  This week, it became quite clear that there is no way we can fight this cancer and properly manage our business.  Today, we closed on the sale of our firm with an incredible young CPA that already has a successful firm very similar to ours.  We are now retired and more capable of fighting cancer!


Hanna's Two Bits:

In case you are wondering if I’m in good hands, I’ll just rest your mind right now, Greg is the world’s best caregiver! 


He is always at my side except when he’s pushing my wheelchair, and then he’s close enough behind me that we can carry on a regular conversation. 

Here at Mayo and other places we have observed many patient/caregiver pairs that walk far apart.  Typically, the one who can walk the fastest takes off at their pace for a good distance before they stop and look back to see their partner minutes behind them, then impatiently waits for them to catch up before they blast on ahead again.

Greg would never leave me behind and that means a lot to me.

Greg anticipates my needs and prepares (like a good scout) so everything is set and ready as needed.

He loves me, protects me, and makes me laugh in the moments when I’m low or discouraged.

He is my true love!

I am so blessed.

And fits this definition of “true love”: When it comes to true love, your mate is really your teammate.

He’s the best cancer teammate ever!








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE BAD DAY (NIGHT) FINALLY ARRIVED

Image
Here is the lovely Miss Hanna at about 1am this morning, trying to figure out what sort of dinner her system will handle.  The softer the better.  Taste doesn't matter any more as her taste buds have been eliminated by the Chemotherapy Drug. Until today, our daily routine was, check in at the Transplant Clinic.  Get examined and consulted by a variety of medical professionals.  Go back home.  And usually that was it.  If something were to be wrong with the blood tests, etc., they would call and have us come back in for treatment. The closest we ever came to the "call back in" was a week ago Sunday when her Potassium levels had dropped drastically, likely caused by the extreme hydration during the transplant itself.  They had us come back to the Clinic to pick up some Potassium tablets at the Pharmacy. That all changed yesterday. They called and asked us to come back in as her platelets had dropped drastically.  The nurse told us to finish our lunc...
Read more

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BEAUTIFUL

Image
 The hair loss was expected and was eventually going to happen.  Happy Early Halloween!! THE GOOD:  This week the Transplant Team here at Mayo Clinic is celebrating their 10,000th transplant.  They were pretty excited.  Amazing to us was the fact that their very first Transplant patient from 60 years ago is still alive and was going to attend the party.  Note that none of us current patients, even the 10,000th, are invited.  Every one of us is immunocompromised and if someone brought in an infection or virus, the entire staff would be very busy for a long time.  But we can say we were there when number 10,000 took place.  We are in very good hands.  The average employee tenure here is 14 years.  Many we meet have been here for over 20 years.  Most of the doctors did their initial fellowship here and are still here decades later.  Having the right specialist, a doctor that does nothing but MM, is key to a proper recovery an...
Read more

TOXIC WASTE!!

Image
Hanna is doing well and appears to be on track to a miraculous recovery.  In this picture, please notice her beautiful hair. The cool chart below (cool, because us accountants LOVE charts like this) shows the level of misery the transplant causes and when.  The numbers are days.  The more the line drops, the more misery.  They call the bottom the "basement".  We are right now on Day 8.  Yes, in the basement. And even though we are in the basement, Hanna is doing quite well.  Things are not nearly as bad as other MM patients that have gone before us have said they would be, nor as bad as the Transplant Team prepared us for.  This is all good.  The main symptoms Hanna (and me too, indirectly) have and are struggling with is massive fatigue and EXPLOSIVE TOXIC DIARRHEA.  She spends a lot of time sleeping, although some days are better than others.  Her endurance level has dropped significantly as well.  It is a struggle for her to...
Read more