March 16, 2023 PM Post

       I have found over the last several weeks, especially these last two, that the writing is more for me as it is for anyone else.
       I am sitting in the waiting room.  Waiting.  I came about an hour early, hoping that by some rare chance at a doctor’s office call, that they might be ahead or take me in early.  That would be rare.
       I sit here with considerable peace in my heart, the peace that I normally feel.  It is about the same feeling that I had the morning that I gave my heart to Jesus.  No lightning bolts.  No angels singing.  Just the peace in my heart that I knew Jesus was in my life and heart.
       That’s pretty much the way I feel as I wait to hear what the next chapter of my life will likely be like.
       Nick showed up and it wasn’t long before I was called back.  At first there was a tinge of anxiety, but that subsided as I waited the next 30-40 minutes, enough so that I caught myself nodding off a number of times.
       The doctor finally comes in and says, “We really don’t know for sure because the biopsy reports are thus far inconclusive.  We could know something tomorrow or maybe not until next week.”
       Here’s the reality according to the hematologist whose care I am under.   In his opinion he believes that I have either High Risk Smoldering Multiple Myeloma or Multiple Myeloma.  The surgeon who performed the bone biopsy believes it is myeloma.  Most of the symptoms are pointing to that.  He is proceeding as if it is myeloma unless the pathology report would indicate something that would be extremely rare.
       Here’s what it appears will be the treatment.  I will begin a lower dose of chemotherapy that will last 3-4 months.  That will be done in Lexington under direction of the Mayo Clinic oncologists.  At the end of that chemotherapy I would return to Rochester for a stem cell harvest, a high dose of chemotherapy, and the stem cell transplant.  I’d be in the hospital for 3-4 days, followed by 3-4 weeks of staying in Rochester for treatment and observation.   That would be followed by 3-4 months of additional chemotherapy back in Lexington.  At some point the chemotherapy would be reduced to maintenance treatments of weekly.
       As I ride home with Nick driving for a while, I still have the same peace in my heart that I did before I got the news.  It’s not what we had hoped, but it’s what the doctors anticipated.
       There are lots of unanswered questions, especially concerning how this will all impact all the areas of my life.  I am confident that with His help, God will give us direction.
       We will keep you updated as we receive additional information.