June 8, 2017..  I am really sorry that this post is so late. We spent another day at the hospital then had to get supplies. Creating this post will take a long time. 

I will try to fill you in as well as I can. I will not be coming home anytime soon. The tests show that the myeloma has created lots of new lesions and created some damage that has to be repaired. They will have to get the myeloma under control but first, the damage will have to be taken care of. The damage that is a problem is in my neck. This damage was not there when I was here in late February/early March. It is important to get it repaired quickly because there is not much remaining on one side of a vertebrae. If this should break, it could cause me to be paralyzed. I have to wear a neck collar all the time except while in the shower. With no lifting or driving because if it broke while driving, I would wreck. It will have to be repaired surgically. I will have to be admitted to the hospital tomorrow as early as I can get there then have surgery on Monday. The reason to be there early tomorrow is because tests have to be run there and they are not done on the weekend. The surgery will take about 3.5 hours and I will be in the hospital 3 to 6 days afterwards. I will then have to wait after surgery about 10 days before I can start the chemo to reduce the myeloma. The doctor that will be doing the surgery (the one I saw today) also does a health program on radio on NPR. His name is Dr Thomas Pait. Dr Van Rhee, who is my doctor, said Dr. Pait is without a doubt the best myeloma damage repair surgeon in the world.

The chemo that I will go on is called VDTPACE. Each of these characters represent a chemo and is pretty powerful stuff. I got it in 2013. It is pumped in 24 hours a day. I am not clear how many days I will be getting it but my understanding was it will be 3 weeks. It can make a person pretty nauseated. I now take 20 mg of Dexamethasone at one time each week. It causes me some sleeping problems. In VDTPACE the D is Dexamethasone and I will be taking 40 mg every day. After I finish this, I will find out what my next treatment will be. 

As far as I know, I will not be able to post to this blog for awhile. If you are on a laptop or desktop computer, you will have the ability to get an email when I start posting again.You can click "Subscribe to: Posts" at the very bottom of the page for the posting for October 5, 2013. You can expand each year in the table of contents by clicking the triangle etc. to easily get to the oldest posting to subscribe. 

We were so fortunate to get an apartment at "Home Away from Home" where we have stayed so many times before. We will move there early in the morning then be at the hospital as early before noon as possible. 

I will post again as soon as I am able. Please keep us in your prayers. Thanks so much for caring.