February 26, 2017..  I had one appointment today (Sunday). It was for a physical exam in preparation for the bone marrow procedure tomorrow and for them to take blood samples. They collected 11 tubes of blood.
I have an umbilical hernia that I have had for a long time but it has not bothered me until recently. The nurse practitioner that examined me today was concerned about it causing me a serious problem. After hearing her explain what could happen with it, I got concerned too. I will soon call a general surgeon's office in Kingsport and see what I can do about getting scheduled to get it repaired.
Tomorrow, I have the sedated bone marrow procedure. We have to be there at 7:30am.

We Return to Little Rock on February 25, 2017

November 24, 25, 2017.. We left home on February 24th at 8:50am and headed for Little Rock. Our plan was to stop, take a break and spend some time with my brother in Memphis. We had an uneventful drive to Memphis and spent the night at my brothers house and left to complete the remainder of our trip at 12:45pm today. We are in an apartment at Fifth Avenue Lofts. We have stayed in apartments that are on the ground floor before but this time, we are on the fourth floor. It was harder getting everything unloaded from the car and into the apartment but we actually like this apartment better than the ones we have had in the past. We will enjoy our stay here. Tomorrow, I  have an apointment at UAMS/MIRT at 2:30pm.   

December 4, 2016.. We left Little Rock on Friday, December 2 at 10:50 am (CST) and arrived home at 11:30 (EST). We had an uneventful drive back home but had a couple of traffic delays along the way. The delays were not for a long duration. Hopefully I can start the new treatment this coming week. 

December 1, 2016.. We were at MIRT this afternoon for about 4 hours. Just about everyone was gone by the time we got out. I was correct in my thinking that my condition has changed a lot in a short time. Due to that, my treatment will also change completely. I will be going on a new antibody drug called Darzalex along with Pomalyst and Dexamethason. I have two myeloma friends back home that are on Darzalex and they are doing very well on it. Both are in remission now. I have never been in remission. I hope it works as well for me too. 
The PET and MRI scans showed two small new lesions. The old lesions were gone because of the Kyprolis when it was working. I go on Darzalex next week (hopefully). It is much more complicated getting it than it was Kyprolis. The first treatment is a pretty big deal since some people have reactions to it. It takes 8 hours for the first treatment as they start and stop the treatment to make sure all is ok. From the first treatment, I get them once a week for 8 weeks then I have to return to MIRT for a round of testing to see if it is working. If is working, I continue on but go for treatment every other week. I eventually work up to going just once a month for the infusion of Darzalex. I am so hopeful that it will work for me. It does not work for everybody, about 61% is what I have read. 
On our trip out west recently, I was squatted down and photographing a cactus, and lost my balance and fell backwards. I had really bad pain for a couple of days and thought I was going to have to immediately return home. It felt better after a couple of days but I feared I had broken a rib. The scans I had here did show that I had a broken rib in my upper rib cage.
That about sums up what I have learned today. I am going to cut this shorter than it could be in order to get it sent out earlier. Thank you so much for caring enough to follow this blog and thank you for your support. Thank you for your continued prayers. We appreciate it more than I can say.   

November 30, 2016.. I finished up with all the tests I was scheduled to have today. We were there just about all day starting at 8 am this morning. I am seeing more things as my test results come in tonight (I can look at them when they are posted to my account at UAMS) to show me the Kyprolis is not working like it was. I just don't know how bad it is at this point. I do expect the doctor to change my treatment regime significantly tomorrow. I would feel so much better if I were seeing my regular doctor here instead of his replacement. By the way, the doctor that is seeing his patients has many years treating myeloma patients so it should be ok to make decisions about me. There are two people from back home I see at KHO and he is their doctor here.

It is so sad to see the destruction at Gatlinburg and surrounding area. It all seems impossible. They are collecting for the Red Cross here in Little Rock to help people in that area. I guess they are doing that all over the country. So very sad.  

November 29, 2016.. I forgot to add to the post last night I had to get a unit of blood. My hemoglobin was too low (8.0). That increased the time we were in infusion so were there for over 6 hours. 
We are sad about hearing about the damage from fire in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. We can see live updates on WBIR and WATE tv in Knoxville. 
I have a PET scan this morning, treatment after that and then an MRI at 4pm. I will update the blog tonight with any information of today.

I got the tests completed I was scheduled for today and we got back to the apartment just a little after dark. Seems like these days at MIRT get real long at times. We got there at 8:45 this morning and have to be there at 8 in the morning. I have the bone marrow biopsy starting then and should finish with all the tests about 5 pm or later tomorrow with an echocardiogram at the end. We are then scheduled to see the doctor on Thursday at 1 pm. 
I think I mentioned my regular doctor will not be here. Another doctor will be seeing his patients while he is gone. I hope I get a future treatment plan from his replacement that I think is the best plan I can be on. I might have to try to make some arrangements to see my doctor when he gets back. That would require us to spend an additional 6 or 7 days here in order to do that. The earliest I could see him would be next Wednesday. Hopefully the doctor replacing him, will give me a treatment plan that I think is adequate. 

November 28, 2016.. I got checked in at MIRT this morning and picked up all my paper work and got my labs drawn and they were sent to the lab. Today, I got my first of two treatments that I will get while I am here this time. When I reviewed my lab tests results tonight, I was disappointed and surprised at the results of the Kappa Free Light Chains in the myeloma markers on the blood test. This is one of the main tests that are looked at to see if treatment is working. Without trying to explain, I will post a screen shot of some of the test results. As you can see, the Kappa Free Light Chains almost tripled during this past month and up almost 8 times since just a few months ago. (Click on the image to enlarge it enough to read)

Another real important part of the test is the Kappa/Lamda ratio. It shows here that it has gone to over 89. This is the highest I have ever had since they have been testing me. It is surprising how fast it went up. I had heard from others that it just takes off in the wrong direction when a treatment stops working. I have told some in my family that my regular specialist will not be here to see me while I am here at MIRT. He will be attending the American Society of Hematology meeting in San Diego so I will have to see another doctor. I wish my doctor was going to be here.