Bone Marrow Biopsy, Fathers' and Sons' Outing in Pine Valley

The day after we returned from Puerto Vallarta, Frank went to the hospital for a bone marrow biopsy (BMB), the first since his multiple myeloma diagnosis the beginning of 2009. Since the cancer is of the newly forming white (plasma) blood cells in the bone marrow, it is important to occasionally see how it is progressing. The procedure, done under general anesthesia, was uneventful but he was quite sore for a few days.

A couple of days later we drove to St George where he planned to go with our son, Lance and his son 7-year-old son Carson on a Father and son's outing to Pine Valley, where their ancestors had helped settle. They had a great time and Saturday after the outing which included about 60 or more men/boys, Frank, Lance and Carson went to Enterprise Lake and fished, catching many large 12-16" trout which they brought home and cooked for us. Yum!

While they were gone, we girls all went to the movie "Gnomeo and Juliet" for our Mother Daughter date. Lots of fun! We also attended the Hershey track meet and Kayla took third place in the long jump. Hailey also participated. We had an enjoyable time in St George and were glad for the opportunity to spend time with family.

Kayla on the stand receiving her award

This Monday we returned to the doctor for the results of the BMB. The first one he had done in 2009 revealed that 50-60% of the cells were malignant. This time the percentage was 40, which is not good but the chemo had decreased them quite a bit. Since he hasn't been able to continue the chemo beyond 2 treatments in the last 6 weeks because of neutropenia, (see previous post) his M-spike continues to rise. He had had 4 Neupogen shots the past month which had raised the neutrophil count but it dropped on its own and this week when we found out the results, he is neutropenic again. Uhg!! He got another Neupogen shot and we will have more labs next week to see if the neutrophils have risen and he can get more chemo. The problem is, he was feeling quite good until he got the shot. It made every bone in his body hurt and he feels like he has a terrible case of the flu. Each time he gets the shot that happens. (The chemo does the same thing). The doctor is concerned about the effect the chemo (Velcade/dexamethasone) will have on his white count and feels it is time to start looking for another option. He feels that exposing him to a high risk of infection would be asking for major problems. Dr. T is checking into a suitable (if there is one) clinical trial at the Mayo clinic in Scottsdale and will find out if he can qualify for it, based on what has/is happening and the chemo he has already received. We'll return to see him in a couple of weeks and see what he has found out.