Decisions and Prayer requests

Decisions

Dear Faith Family,

I have sat on this for a week before copying it to the blog, just to be sure we wanted to share it. From here on I will try to update this blog each Saturday.

We went to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas on August 11 to talk with a transplant physician. He was very personable and of course, knowledgeable. He spent an hour and a half with us explaining all the options transplant wise, and answering all our questions (Tracy and Marcos went too.) For new readers who may not have read what a stem cell transplant is – FYI here is a simple explanation. Stem cells are immature blood cells that can be harvested, frozen until needed and then put back into the body at a later date. After harvesting them one receives a strong dose of chemotherapy to kill the cancer cells in one’s body, however that chemo also kills one’s bone marrow. After chemo, the stem cells are put back into the blood stream, they gravitate to the bone marrow and set up shop making blood cells again.

Here are some facts that we gleaned:

• About 98% of stem cell transplant patients survive the procedure.
• The successful stem cell transplant for Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients will buy them about two or three years before the cancer returns
• About 30% of the time, the MM still returns shortly after the transplant
• Even after a stem cell transplant, most hematologists want to continue a suppressing treatment – in other words, Deb would continue taking the same medication treatments she is currently taking until they no longer had any effect upon suppressing the cancer.
• Then one would try another drug type of treatment (and there are a few to choose from, though by far the most effective is the one she is currently on) to try to suppress the MM and get it under control again for a while.
• They say that the best results from a stem cell transplant occur when it is done during the first 4 – 6 months of treatment and during the first remission. It has decreasing results after each relapse.

We did not hear anything that changed our minds about not doing the transplant to combat MM. At this point in time, we do not plan to ever do a transplant procedure. We don’t expect everyone to agree with us, but we ask you to accept our decision and to support us in it.

The doctors say that MM always comes back. However, I asked the transplant dr. if he knew of any MM patients in whom it appeared that there was some divine intervention. Yes, he knew of a handful of such cases. I asked him if their MM had returned. He said “Not yet.” He has only been doing this for 8 years though. But that is all we needed to hear. We are confident that there was some divine intervention the last week of July - I believe it was the 25^th.

Just as the Israelites trusted in the Lord rather than horses and chariots, we are going to trust in the Lord and the incredible doors He has opened to us. We want God to be glorified through all this. (Phil 1:20-21) We will work hard on our diet and add supplements in an effort to keep her blood ph on the alkaline side rather than the acidic so that the cancer cannot return. (Up until a year ago we knew nothing about this truth. God’s providential timing is perfect). This route gives us the hope of 20+ more years. May the Lord bless those efforts. For the time being, we plan to continue the maintenance therapy with the steroid Dexamethasone four days a month and a daily dose of Thalidomide.

We continue to covet your prayers that the MM stays in remission until it is declared as cured, that her blood stay in a healthy alkaline state, that her back continue to heal the fractures and strengthen all her weakened bones, that her strength return, and that the regular gloom and doom visits with the Hematologist will not dampen our faith with doubts as we maintain a positive outlook. This route also may allow the Hematologist to grow his faith as he sees Deb’s continual improvement in spite of his prognosis.

May our God bless you with an abiding sense of His presence ever being near you until He calls each of us home to be with Him.

Duane and Deb