Day 100 and BMB Results

Hermosa Beach - July 2019

I made it to Day 100 post transplant.  That represents the end of the most dangerous period where I would be most likely to experience rejection of the transplanted cells.  Happy to report that there is no clear rejection.  I am experiencing some troublesome diarrhea, but my medical team thinks its from my medication and not a sign of rejection. I’m riding up to 14 miles/day on a bicycle.  And I’ve been hitting tennis balls with a club pro…although I get gassed pretty quickly doing that.  It will take awhile before I’m ready to play competitively.  My hair is growing back.  The hair on my head is growing slowly.  It’s about crewcut length.  Susan says it looks less like I’m a cancer patient and more like I want it to look that way.  My beard is growing a little faster and I need to shave about every other day.  The hair in my ears is growing super fast.  Go figure!

My latest bone marrow biopsy was done last week…right on day 100.  Results came in last night.  I’m MRD-.  No cancer detected with very sensitive instrumentation.  The best possible result.  Could signal that I’m cured…although things need to stay this way for awhile before we can make that claim.  Nevertheless, it’s great news.

Next step….my lab sample will be sent for evaluation by an even more sensitive test.  This test…called clonoSEQ will do 2 things:  1) it will solve the question of whether my Myeloma and Leukemia are related to each other or completely separate.  This will be helpful information should any additional treatment be required.  2) it will detect whether there are as few as 1 in a 1,000,000 cancer cells active.  The current results can ID 1 in 10,000.  Why do this?  Cancer grows fast and a small problem can be a big problem pretty quickly. So, if any evidence of cancer is identified, it will be treated right away and I’m told it is easier to knock it out when the numbers are that small. Not sure how long it will take before the results of this test are available.  It’s pretty high tech stuff.  FDA approved, although there is a question of whether Medicare will pay for it.  Either way, I’m signed up.

Currently suffering from a cold…which can be problematic since my immune system is still very immature.  But so far, it’s behaving like just about any other cold I’ve ever had.  I’ve been warned that it may take longer to shake it than previous viruses.  C’est la Vie.   In light of all the positives, it would be churlish to get too upset about having the sniffles.