We checked out of the hotel and Jerry got blood drawn again this morning at 8am. We then proceeded to the MIRT doctor's waiting room for our 10:00 appt. The couple we happened to be seated by asked where we were from...Jerry said northeast TN and asked if they were familiar with the Bristol area. Their response was unbelievable...the wife said she was very familiar with the area and that her great grandfather had lived in Surgoinsville and was a Caldwell. She now lives in Batesville, Arkansas. Jerry said he is a Caldwell and that we actually live in Surgoinsville which has since been incorporated into Church Hill. The chance of this happening is almost unbelievable given the fact that over 10,000 myeloma patients pass through these doors yearly. She has done extensive geneology research on her ancestry and decided they had to be somehow related. We didn't have much time to talk but managed to exchange phone nos. to keep in touch and find out additional information. By the way, her husband was also seeing the doctor for a myeloma appointment.

We are now on I-40 headed home at last. We left Little Rock at 1:45 Eastern time, which is late in the day for our 12-hr drive home. The doctor spent quite a long time with us explaining Jerry's current situation. Based on lab results, he said the Mekinist had not made much difference which was very disappointing to us. He explained that his bone marrow was pretty much "beaten up" so his recommended path forward for now would not be a stem cell transplant because of the heavy doses of chemo required in preparation for the transplant. Also, that the drugs normally used to treat myeloma would not work due to the rarer type of myeloma Jerry has. Instead of the Mekinist, he is to begin taking Krypolis via infusion 2 days each week along with the steroid, Dexamethazone. The Dex will be in pill form and always taken on infusion days. Dr. Jethava said he was very hopeful that this change in treatment would be more successful. We also are hoping and praying for good results.

Next appointment is two months from now with orders for a PET scan, sedation bone marrow biopsy, and blood work which is always a given.

As I write this, we are in a delay on I-40 caused by road construction that has already lasted 30 minutes.