Prolific -- Word for the day (Friday, May 16, 2008)

Prolific
DEFINITION:
(adjective) producing many offspring or creations.

Throughout this process you will have to pardon my, what seems like weirdness to you, play of words. The words of the day I have found to date seem to relate to Chemo Sabe's journey. Prolific -- producing many offspring or creations. This brings to mind to me the stem cell transplant process. In approximately 3-4 weeks, after two weeks of chemo, Chemo Sabe will have just about all of his bloods cells pulled from his body. These cells (about 7 million), from my understanding, will be cleansed and the bad cells destroyed. They will be harvested and new cells will be produced (offspring or creations). They will then be infused back into Chemo Sabe's body, only a few thousand, and they will produce offspring/creations. They will swim around and somehow know which parts of Chemo Sabe's bone marrow needs new growth and cells. (The extras will be stored for the second transplant and future ones, if needed.) Boom --- There we have it -- Prolific.

Our day started quite early. We were at UAMS at 7:15. Our appointment was for 8:30. Chemo Sabe had his two lollipops by 8:00. He had a bone aspiration. An 8 in. needle in the left pelvic into one of the 25 lesions. It was very different that the bone marrow biospy which consists of an 8 in. needle of which I describe as an ice pick. So, today was a breeze. We are lucky there are not lesions in his right artificial hip.

Our next appointment was for 11:45 and the third at 1:00. We were told to tell the 11:45 MRI people we needed to be rushed in to meet the 1:00. So, we made the 11:45 at 9:30. The nurse behind the desk called Radiology for our 1:00 and got us in there at 10:00. Then we were back at MRI at 10:30. They were somewhat confused we were there because we spent all day there on Saturday. They had not made impressions of the two forearms and chest. They explained they called the doctor and informed him of the wire in Chemo Sabe's chest, therefore, could not get the scan. So, we were sent on our way.

We got to make it to our special lunch place at UAMS where the lady fixes us grilled roast beef sandwiches with piles of roast beef. To top it off, she calls us "Baby". We were in there last week at 10:00 a.m. and they don't open until 11:00. I whined a little about not being able to get my roast beef sandwich. She opened up the grill just for us and fixed us two.... That is only one example of how well we are treated by everyone at UAMS.

We went to a dinner party last night. The only attendees were Multi-Myleloma (MM) patients and their caregivers (that would be me). The very first person meeting us at the door is a lawyer for the state police and he is a spokesman for MM. He is a 17 year survivor. There were about 40 people in attendance and each one had a story. No crying in their beer. First of all, there wasn't any. We were/are blessed to be in such company.

We are heading out Sat. a.m. to meet a couple we ride bikes with. We won't be riding. It will be our last weekend away from home for awhile. I would think four to six months. We are looking forward to it. We both have busy weeks next week getting our work in order. Chemo Sabe has a couple of out of town trips and paperwork.

I wanted to prepare you that you will see some comments on this blog from Sissy. She is who we affectionately call Chemo Sabe's mistress. She has been my friend for 34 years (1973) and Chemo Sabe's for the 20 years we have been married. So, whatever she writes is safe. She is a true Christian friend. She is also a kidney/pancreas transplant survivor (Sept. 2000). You will love her.

Hey, Since Jim is Chemo Sabe, I believe I will change my biker name from Pepper to Tonto... I see a tattoo coming on!

We love you and your support. And we are continuously amazed by God's humor to keep our minds off the more serious things. That is a story for later posts.

Continue with your prayers. Please include in them the patients we see each day. Most of the faces are usually new ones. They are ALL MM patients. Kentucky, Michigan, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, California, Colorado, Tennessee, Bahamas.. And, those are just the ones we met last night.

Pepper