Cycling

Unfortunately that title doesn't refer to bicycling. Rather, I'm going into my 3rd cycle of the new drug combo of vorinostat and velcade along with my every other day prednisone. We still don't know whether this regime is taking down the myeloma. But it has, at least, stabilized the IGGs just below 7000, where they've been hovering for more than a month. That's still way too high but at least they're not moving upward. This regime is a bit more challenging, mainly due to the increased fatigue. The drugs also hit my blood counts pretty hard, driving down the red cells and platelets. Those low counts have resulted in my needing four transfusions this past month and tomorrow I'll be getting my second one this month. Rifkin has decided not to subject me to another bone marrow biopsy, telling me that my marrow is packed with myeloma, which also causes the blood counts to go down.

So what do I do when I'm not at the clinic/hospital? Still riding the bike, although the heat wave is keeping me inside more often than I would like. I also manage to mediate a few cases each month, which I continue to enjoy. Lately we've been dealing with our flooded basement--the fourth time in five years; and we've had contractors in 3 times to fix it, which they're apparently not capable of doing. We welcome all recommendations.

I want to thank all of you who contributed to Catherine's triathlon run for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She has raised $5000, almost twice her goal of $2600. Given Catherine's phenomenal fund raising, I've decided to participate in the Leukemia Society's Light the Night walk. It will take place in Denver at Washington Park, with the walk starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22. I am inviting all of you to participate in the walk. Large numbers of walkers bring awareness to the public of the numerous people afflicted with blood cancers. Darin and Liz Schanker have offered, once again, to host a prewalk party at their home on the east side of Washington Park. Darin's law firm, Bachus and Schanker, has been a strong supporter of the Leukemia Society in the past and want to continue their support. I will provide more details on the prewalk party schedule as we get closer to the walk. Also, if you missed the opportunity to contribute to Catherine's triathlon, your contribution to Light the Night would be greatly appreciated. The link to my web page is:

http://pages.lightthenight.org/rm/DenverL11/dpatterson_LTN

Rifkin has carefully scheduled my treatment and transfusions so I can make the trip to NYC to cheer Catherine on at the finish line in Central Park. Simply put, the plan is to load me up with blood and platelets just before we leave, discontinue any treatment, and then resume when we return. I think they call this blood doping.

That's all that's happening at our household. I hope you are all enjoying your summer. And wherever you live, the heat wave will pass. Yes it will.
Dan