And I'm Halfway Through the Testing.

Well, Day Two is in the books. The first thing that we did was visit the Apheresis department. They wanted me to take a questionnaire to see that I was mentally and physically prepared to go through the transplant. It looks like I'm not looney tunes and I'm not pregnant, whew. I was worried about that one. Everything came back fine and I actually was able to speak with a Doctor from Hopkins Hospital from Arkansas, which is the "gold standard" for Multiple Myeloma. He spoke very highly of Doctor Benson, as does everyone else I've spoken to affiliated with The James. Next, a few nurses took a look at the veins in my arms to see if they could withstand 5 hours of harvesting my stem cells. Fortunately, I have 5 veins between my 2 arms that are "Great" so that means no early placement of the port. And that means (hopefully) lower risk of infection.

After that I was supposed to have my Bone Marrow Biopsy, which all I wanted was to get it over with. Of course, the Nurse Practitioner had some things come up and could not come up. It was alright, it just gave a chance for my anxiety to spike a little bit more. No big deal. We then met with the Transplant Co-ordinator and some others that just gave us a run down and also some information about support groups, etc. I'd be lying if I said I was completely listening, in anticipation of the BMB.

Finally, the nurse came in to perform the biopsy. All I could think of was the miserable experience of the one in Cleveland. There were a few differences in this situation. They had me lie flat on my stomach opposed to my side. And a nurse performed this one, instead of a doctor. Finally, this one was done outpatient, opposed to me being in ICU. While it was still terribly painful, the nurse was great in talking me through what was going on and letting me know when particular pain would be coming. I'm definitely thankful this is over and hopefully will not need another one for a very long time.

To end the day, we met with Dr. Benson. The meeting was relatively quick, as we have already spoke about a lot of what is going on/will be happening. He did mention that he believes I'm already in a remission or as close as I can get, through my Velcade treatments. He also informed us that I was in better shape and my numbers were continually improving than he even expected or had hoped for. He continued to say that my kidneys were "Miracle Kidneys," after my creatinine being over 7 in Cleveland and now being 1.4. He also began telling me that he has never put patients on maintenance drugs once they were in remission, because there were no studies that showed if it was worthwhile and some of the side effects just weren't worth it. However, a new study shows that a particular drug will help keep patients in remission longer and hopefully a longer life expectancy. He said we don't have to make a decision today, but it is a conversation we should have. All I could think of was, "Absolutely!!"

Whatever I need to do, yes yes yes.

Today is the final day of pre-transplant testing. Looking forward to having this over with and enjoying Christmas.

Clear Eyes ~ Full Hearts ~ CAN'T Lose