Dave Update- April 15, 2011

Hello family and friends, just a short Dave update.  Mom and Dave are currently in Stanford getting his second round of chemo before his last stem cell collection.  They arrived on Wednesday morning and immediately spent most of the day getting blood drawn, visiting with his doctor, and all the other fun testing that he has to endure.  My mom and Dave spent the night at Pam's house and returned to the hospital on Thursday. 

Dave and my mom had the opportunity to meet with another doctor whom I'm gathering from my mom's description was very well liked and popular among the patients and nurses.  I'm imagining a MacDreamy synopsis, but this has not been confirmed.  Wink, wink.

Dave says the doctor, Miguel Cerejo, M.D., was wonderful to talk with and went in great detail about how Multiple Myeloma has changed since his internship at the University of Chicago over 14 years earlier.  At that time, the doctor said he was always sorry to see someone come in with MM.  Now, he says when someone comes in with MM, they are always like "Yes" we got this one!  He went in great detail about cell structure, the most recent medications, velcade and revlimid and two new ones that have just made their way onto the market.  He was really able to ease Dave and my mom's anxiety about what to expect with this round of chemo and the future.  The doctor felt that Dave should respond better to this round than he did the first and that we'd have a good idea within 24 hours after chemo how he would respond. 

The doctor also acknowledged that Dave had an aggressive abnormal chromosome, but also noted how great Dave has been responding to treatment and expressed a bright outlook for his future.  Many MM patients go into stem cell transplant with only a partial response, so Dave's chances of getting a good remission result is great since he is already in complete response!  At one point the doctor looked at Dave and said,  "God only put a few perfect heads on this earth and the rest he put hair on them".  He went on to compliment Dave's shaped head.  Dave got a laugh out of this because he has used that quote on and off since first hearing it over 30 years ago.

Dave started his chemo drip about 7 p.m.  on Thursday.  It takes 3-4 hour and he is required to stay over night.  Before that he had lots of pre-meds infused: anti-nausea meds, steroids, pain meds.  Dave emailed me Friday morning to let me know that he was feeling pretty good overall.  He probably will be released at some point today.  I'm not sure if they will stay overnight or rush back to their babies (Dexter and Shelby).

I am so thankful to our family for all the help they give my mom and Dave.  Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Wana and Cliff, Allan and family for watching over the cats and making sure they are well taken care of while my parents are gone.  I try not to take this personally, but it says a lot that they chose all of you before her one and only daughter to watch over their precious babies, tee, hee...

I also can't thank Pam enough for her generosity.  I can't express enough how much stress it takes off my parents to be able to stay with family.  Your support in unmeasurable.  You make them feel so welcomed and comfortable.  What a blessing.

I feel so full of hope and peace that Dave is going to get through this with the best possible diagnosis-  NO CANCER.   We will meet again someday until there is a cure, but here is praying for a long remission, continued advances in research, and ultimately, a cure.