Remission!! Do What!?

February 2015

I was 90% certain, when we set out for the Cleveland Clinic to talk Stem Cell Transplant, that I would not be swayed. I was sticking to my guns: SCT is not for me. We had already been over pros and cons with both my Akron doctor and my lead doctor at the Cleveland Clinic. For the sake of giving it a fair shake, though, Martha and I agreed to talk to the doctor in charge of the transplant process.

This day, we met with Dr. Jagadeesh, the transplant doctor. She described the 2 week outpatient process leading up to the SCT: the bone marrow biopsy, the battery of heart and breathing tests and X-Rays, the self administered shots to make stem cells reproduce, the installation of a catheter into the heart for easy in and out of things like blood, chemo and medicines, and the actual harvesting and insertion of the stem cells. Stem cells are the immature cells that turn into red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets when they mature.

Dr. Jagadeesh also explained the entry into the hospital following the stem cell harvest, the high dose chemo that would kill most of the cells in my bone marrow, the reintroduction of my thawed out stem cells, and the slow rebuilding of my immune system, first during a few weeks in the hospital and then for a few months confined to my home. Oh boy!

When I asked her why, in the name of sanity, I would want to do this, she said something about gaining remission, and living longer. She said something about my 4:14 translocation and my genes being kind of messed up, which puts me in a high risk group. I wasn’t convinced.

But then we met with Dr. Reu, my lead doctor and hematologist. His opening exclamation was, “You’re numbers are great. You’re in remission!” “Wonderful,” I thought. “What could be better!?” That’s when he kabonged me: “This is the perfect time to have the SCT! You should do it!” 

And just like that, my anti-SCT resolve melted faster than a snowball in a microwave. “Dr. Reu thinks I should do it! He thinks remission is the ideal time. He’s not non-committal like he was at our last appointment. (Deep breath) I have to do it!”

“You can have some time to think about it,” the nurse advised, with Martha nodding. “What’s to think about?” I answered. “Dr. Reu says to do it.”

Over the years, I preached many a sermon which included the idea that, as Christians, we’re not asked to put our ultimate trust in a book, even if it is the Bible, or a moral code, or a set of ideas. We’re encouraged to have a simple trust in a person, a man/God named Jesus, who has demonstrated with his life, death and resurrection his wisdom, power, compassion, plan and love for us.

I don’t put Dr. Reu quite on THAT level, but I don’t know anyone I trust more to be looking out for my well being in all things myeloma. So if he says SCT is for me, I can’t think of a good reason not to do it.

It looks like the outpatient doings will begin in late February and the hospital stay may come about the middle of March. We’ll post some short updates of how things are going, here. So if you’re interested, you may want to add your email address to the “follow” box to the side on this blog that notifies you when a new entry is posted. (If you view this on a mobile device, click "View web version" at the bottom of the post, which will take you to the page where you can sign up in the upper right corner.)

It should be quite a ride!