HOW IT ALL STARTED..........

 

We've decided to create a blog about Hanna's battle with cancer.  I had one with my cancer (which I, along with a lot of help, did beat), so we feel it's a good idea for Hanna's also.  The purpose will mostly be to keep everyone aware and updated and share the miracles as they happen.  I (Greg) get to write it because, well, I didn't go to college on a writing scholarship for nothing.  And on some days, Hanna just may not feel much like writing a blog.  She will have input, editorial rights, and veto rights.  It's a group project.

THE JOURNEY SO FAR.................

Over a year ago, or even further back than that, Hanna began struggling with tingling and pain in her feet and legs.  Over time, it progressed to where she could not feel much in her feet and had a hard time keeping from tripping and falling.

She began seeking medical help, yup, about a year ago and no doctor could diagnose what was happening.  She kept getting "nope, it's nothing in my area of medicine.  I'm going to send you to a __________ (you fill in the blank), maybe they'll figure it out."  In addition to her regular doctor, she saw a neurosurgeon, then a physiatrist, then a physical therapist, then nerve conduction specialist, then a laser treatment specialist, then a rheumatologist, then another neurosurgeon, then our hero finally, a neurologist with Kootenai Health.  After falling apart and crying in front of him because no one could figure this out, he ordered a long list of blood tests, the longest list known to mankind, to hopefully find something.

I balked at it at first.  There had already been so many blood tests already with no results.  But overnight, the spirit rebuked me and I changed my mind.  The blood tests, which we received on-line before the doctor had a chance to talk to us about them, showed several tests that were incredibly high above the normal range.  A Google search taught us it may be something called Multiple Myeloma.

The neurologist called soon after that, with an obvious sense of urgency, and referred Hanna to Dr. Gay, a Hematologist.  "His office is in the Cancer Clinic, but don't let that worry you.  It doesn't mean you have cancer....." he told us.  Nice try.  Unlike the other times, they got us in within days rather than weeks or months.  (Sure, it's not urgent).

Then, for the second time in our marriage, we heard the words "you have cancer."  Dr. Gay explained that Multiple Myeloma (MM) is an incurable cancer of the blood.  We were grateful that the word "terminal" was not used.  He explained that the goal would be long-term remission.

Most of the way through that process, I insisted Hanna contact Mayo Clinic because they just don't seem to be the type that would refer you elsewhere.  They love to discover and diagnose new and rare diseases.  Soon after meeting with Dr. Gay, Mayo Clinic called, ready to talk about neuropathy.  Hanna told them she had just been diagnosed with MM and their attitude changed to "how soon can you get here?"

Once at Mayo, she was also diagnosed with AL Amyloidosis, (Amy) (my apologies to my sister and sister-in-law that are both named Amy) a rare and deadly disease of the blood caused by MM.  By then her neuropathy was so bad that we purchased a wheel chair for her.  It also was spreading to her hands and arms.

JUST WHAT IS THAT??

MM is a cancer of the blood that resides primarily in the bone marrow.  The initial biopsy showed that 80% of Hanna's bone marrow was made up of MM cancer cells.  The cancer literally eats the bones from the inside out, and then causes painful lesions on the outside of the bone.  The bones obviously become very frail and break easily.

Amy is a disease that deposits protein cells in various parts of your body, mostly the heart, kidney, and liver.  In Hanna's case, gratefully, it chose to attack her nervous system, thus causing the neuropathy.  This made sense as MM by itself rarely causes neuropathy.  Several days of testing at Mayo confirmed that she had Amy (they did this with a stomach fat asperation test where they plunge a needle into her belly and use it to suck out a sample of fat.  Not fun for her to do or me to watch.)  The testing also confirmed that Amy had not reached or attacked any other organs.  If it had, part of the treatment would have included transplants of the infected organs.

TREATMENT.........

The treatment is the same for both MM and Amy.

The doctors at Mayo Clinic are prescribing the treatment while Dr. Gay is providing it at the Cancer Clinic in Post Falls.  It includes four rounds (months) of Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy along with a ton of drugs to control the side effects of the Chemotherapy, and then a Stem Cell Transplant (SCT) at Mayo.  Hanna is just finishing up her last round of Chemotherapy.  After SCT, she may be on a light Chemo regimen for life.  Yes, like most all cancers, it likely will come back at some point.  When it does, we will start all this over again.  Plus, they are developing new successful treatments for these particular diseases all the time.

She has tolerated the Chemo well except for a horrible bout that started on the 4th of July weekend.  She broke out in an intensely itchy and nasty-looking rash and also came down with COVID at the same time.  The doctors had her stop the Chemo and take the COVID drug, Paxlovid.  She recovered from COVID fairly quickly over a few days.  (We both got it and it was both of ours third time with it.)  But the nasty rash held on for weeks.  They sent us to a Dermatologist (Doctor #12 in the process) that recommended she go back on Chemo immediately and gave her some super steroids and anti-itch goop to help.  The doctor's quote of the day "I would not stop the Chemo and let cancer cells take over your body because of an annoying itch....."  True that.

They finally tracked it down to an allergic reaction to another medicine she was taking to alleviate Chemo side effects.  The rash finally went away and all is good again.

The neuropathy is dissipating too.  She has feeling again in her arms, hands, and it is starting to really come back in her feet and legs.  She has graduated from a wheel chair to a walker, unless there is a long distance to travel, such as an airport or long Mayo Clinic hallway.  She can walk really well as long as she has someone or something to hold on to.

MIRACLES............

At this point, Hanna is in partial remission.  We welcomed the "r" word the day it came out of the Doctor's mouth.  Not everyone responds this well and we are grateful and give credit to God and the hundreds of people that are praying for us.

For those that like stats and blood test results and all that, here, have some:

(And seriously, neither of us know what these tests mean or are about.  Just what they are and what the normal range for them should be.)

Lamda Light Chains:  Normal Range is .57 - 2.63.  When diagnosed, they were at 56.2.  Now they are at .68.  NORMAL!!

M-Spike Protein:  Normal Range is 0.  When diagnosed, it was 5.3.  Now it is .4.  HUGE PROGRESS!!

IGG:  Normal Range is 767 - 1,590.  When diagnosed, it was 5,790.  Now it is 718.  BELOW NORMAL!!!  (which is good).

That all indicates partial remission.  SCT is expected to put Hanna into full remission and a longer remission than if she just uses drugs by themselves.

WHAT'S NEXT?

This week we pack, rent a cargo van, and drive to Rochester, Minnesota (aka Med City), about an hour south of Minneapolis and close to Iowa.  We are isolating so we don't catch anything.  Hanna must be free of all viruses and infections when we arrive or the SCT may be delayed.

This was a long read.  They won't always be this long.  As exciting news come up, or if things get tough, we will post a new blog entry so you can all know how we're doing.

Thanks for the prayers.  We feel them.