November 13, 2015.. We arrived home at 10:10pm tonight. We had a decent drive until we got to Nashville and then it took about an hour and a half to get through there. We had not had any major delays there in the past. I don't know why we did this time through. 

I noticed on my blog for July/August, we arrived home at 10:05pm so we were within 5 minutes of that same time tonight. 

We will have to return to Little Rock in March, 2016. 
Thanks for caring enough to read this blog.   

November 12, 2015.. We got good news today! The doctor said things look good and then he said "what more can I say". My myeloma marker numbers had improved some since the last time but the main thing to me was they had not gotten worse. In case you don't know, when we were here in July, the MRI showed a spot on one of my ribs in the back. It has been on my mind these four months but NOTHING showed up this time. They found no bone lesions at all. Before I started treatment, there were several lesions on my vertebrae and hip. I am so very thankful there was nothing there on the scans now. 

I recorded the visit with the doctor and also with the nurse practitioner. The nurse practitioner went over all the tests before the doctor and I recorded her discussion as well as his. I thought I would add the audio to the blog but it is going just take too long to do it. 

The doctor is keeping me on the same treatment I have been on. He said since I am doing so well on my current treatment (Kyprolis and Revlimid), he wants to continue with the same treatment.

I guess it goes without saying, we are very relieved and thankful. I want to thank each of you for your prayers and concern.

We will head home tomorrow morning!    

November 11, 2015.. It was a rainy day in Little Rock today but we enjoyed our day off. I did not have an appointment anywhere so we enjoyed not being on a schedule.

Tomorrow I meet with the doctor and learn the results of all the tests I have had this week. I know you can imagine how uneasy I am before I hear from the doctor. 

Since I prefer to have some photos in the blog so it will not be so boring, I am including some below that I made on previous trips here. 

The Arkansas State Capitol 

At the Old Mill

November 10, 2015.. I got finished with the testing today! Yipee! I am glad it is over. The PET did not take as long. They have a new PET scanner and it takes only 15 minutes to do a scan where in the past it took about 45 minutes. It still takes a while for the whole process since they inject radioactive glucose into a vein and then I had to wait for one hour before the scan. I pray these scans do not show anything bad. This whole process of scans looking inside my body has me on edge on what they might find. Now, the wait to see what the doctor will say about it Thursday at 1pm.

It was a beautiful day today with sun and was about 72 degrees.

The presidential debate is getting ready to start. I am going to listen to it. May the best man win...or the best person that is.  

November 9, 2015.. Today was a long day just as I thought it would be but we got all the scheduled tests for today completed. We got back to the apartment at about 7:30 tonight. All the tests went pretty smoothly. Before the bone marrow biopsy, a visit with a doctor's assistant is required to have a physical exam. The place where the exam has been done in the past has been relocated to the Infusion Four area. That is the place where we spent so much time back in 2013. When we went there today, it was like a big reunion. It was so good to see some of the people that had been so good to me back in 2013 when we spent 3.5 months here. I felt like I was a celebrity the way they are treating me. I got lots of hugs which always come in handy to have. We got to see one sweet, young nurse that also has a blood cancer. She had been to Houston and gotten a bone marrow transplant. She seemed to be doing well now and showed us her engagement ring. I sure do wish her well. She had been the nurse assigned to me several times back in 2013. It was so nice to see those people and I wish I could have talked to them more. One of the nurses I saw today is one I had posted about back in 2013. During that Thanksgiving, she baked me a sugar free apple pie and brought it in to me. I am including a photo below Reta had made on her Ipad in 2013. As I explained in the blog back in 2013, she lost her 6 year old son when he was run over by a school bus.

When we were checking in first thing this morning, we saw someone we knew from Rogersville. He is a myeloma patient and we had no idea they were here too. I was hoping to see them again sometime during the day but we didn't. He was having tests today too.  

This is what it looks like in the lobby where we go inside each day we are here. 

Tomorrow, I have a PET scan. That is the only test I will have tomorrow. 

November 8, 2015.. We had a nice, relaxing day today. We woke up this morning with the sun shining in the windows with a nice brisk temperature outside. I think it was pretty much that way back home. We rested up from yesterday and went and got some food supplies to last us the rest of our stay here. We meant to do that last night but we were just too worn out. It was cool here and probably got up to about 60. I suspect that is about the same as it was at home. It was warmer than that when we got up yesterday morning at home. 

Tomorrow will be a big testing day. We have to be there at 7:30am and the last test is scheduled at 5:30pm. That test will probably be later than 5:30 since they normally are running behind schedule late in the day. I have several tests scheduled tomorrow including the bone marrow biopsy. 

I did not mention it last night but we were able to get an apartment through Home Away From Home. As most of you know, Home Away from Home is a ministry of Little Rock Church here in Little Rock. We were so glad they were able to accommodate us. The apartment we were able to get is one we had stayed in before. We stay here starting on November 21 last year. The apartment were we are staying is at Palisades at Chenal Valley. The photos below are some Reta made with her Ipad when we were here last year. She did not have one showing the living room.  

To Little Rock in November, 2015

November 7, 2015.. We made the drive again to Little Rock today. The traffic was ok but it was a hard day. We got up at 5am for the trip but we did not get to our apartment in Little Rock until 9:30pm EST. We drove in rain until we got to Harriman then no rain for the remainder of the trip. When we got to Memphis, we stopped and spent some time with my brother who lives there and did not get back on the road until after dark. I had been instructed by my doctors to take a 15 minute walk every 3 hours to prevent blood clots like I had gotten before on a trip from Little Rock. I had not taken into account I could not get out of the car and take a walk after it got dark so I was not able to walk after I left Memphis. It had been about 6 hours since my last walk. The myeloma and the medication I am taking makes getting blood clots a problem so I am hoping, at this time, I don't get more blood clots like I did once before.
We have a free day tomorrow and then a big test day Monday. I start at 7:30am and the last test (a MRI) is scheduled to start at 5:30pm. I don't normally have that many tests scheduled in the same day. 
I am pretty exhausted but I wanted to add to the blog published so the date would be correct on the post. It is now 2:00am EST. Tomorrow should be a much easier day and we are looking forward to it.