Slight return...

It's back. The remission had a good run, but myeloma is a wily beast that changes its spots regularly.

There's an excellent chance of this being beaten down once again with perhaps the same protocol used in induction therapy: Velcade, Doxil and Dextamethasone. The induction therapy was stopped because it was working so well they achieved a remission, not because the therapy had stopped working.

I had written here that there was not a lot found. This was my mistake, I misunderstood what Richie had said. There is a pretty big concentration of mutant cells in the sample, (60%) although the fact that the M-Spike is only 1.0 leads the doctor to suspect he hit a pocket of mutant cell activity with the biopsy.

One fact which militates in favor of a rapid return to remission after treatment: Richie is in better physical shape now than when he first presented at City of Hope in late January 2007.

Keep thinking good thoughts, praying, or whatever for him. That always helps.

M-spike is down and staying down!

The M-spike is the specific marker for multiple myeloma. It is secreted by mutant plasma cells, and Richie's initial value was close to 9.0. Once the initial Velcade/Doxil/Dextamethasone treatments were given, the M-spike dropped first to around 3.5, then to 1.5, then down below 1.0 to where it's pretty much been since June. In December, the M-spike was down to a point where it's referred to as being a "trace band" where the actual value is so low it cannot be reliably measured. Basically the take home message is that the myeloma has been knocked down to molecular remission. It's still there...cowering in the shadows, waiting for a moment when Richie weakens and it can pounce. But it has been effectively beaten down to the point where it is at a standstill. On the 10th it will be four months since the transplant. Awesome.

Survivor day: 12/26/2007

This is the anniversary of when Richie was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Richie is doing fine...yesterday we took a walk between our house and about 2/3 of the way to the hospital at which Richie was diagnosed, and I was more winded than he was.

Two more of our friends were diagnosed with cancer recently. One has a blood cancer that's basically a kissing cousin of what Richie has, the other has prostate cancer which I lost an uncle to a few years ago.

I know that Richie isn't out of the woods...it was explained to us that the only way to know that you have beaten multiple myeloma is to die of unrelated causes. Sort of like what happened to Peter Boyle...he died of a heart attack unrelated to his myeloma. However, we are quite hopeful for the future. Things aren't perfect: there are limitations we'd like to learn to work around right now. The maintenance meds that Richie's on need tuning, which is something to be expected considering that it's a new regimen.

It is likely we will not be updating this site in a while, but every now and again I'll post some bits about Richie's progress. Also there's the album recorded at the benefit gig...it'll come out. Eventually.