First Bump is a doozy

I am sorry to have to report that Eric's cancer has returned and is now leukemia.  I am also sorry to have to write such a long blog, but a lot has happened in a short time and I feel that I need to recount it all.  Feel free to skim this as there is not a quiz at the end.

Eric has had an innocuous bump on his left rib cage since October.  None of the doctors at the Bone Marrow Transplant Ccinic were concerned about it because it did not look like anything they had seen before, his numbers were good and he was doing great.  It stayed the same for three months but suddenly started growing the end of December.  With the BMT doctors' approval we had a friend who is a dermatologist biopsy it.  Just this Wednesday we received the news that it was cancer.

Monday we were at the BMT clinic for a routine visit and we had the Physician's Assistant feel a small bump under Eric's armpit.  She suggested we have our friend biopsy it also.  Eric's blood work on Monday showed a decrease in his platelets.  I had noticed last week that they were slightly lower than the week before.

Tuesday morning we were at the dermatologist's office, but the bump under Eric's armpit was too far below the skin for him to biopsy.  Back home we called the BMT clinic and told them that he had suggested a surgeon or a scan were what was needed to find out more about the lump.

A short time later we received a call from the BMT clinic asking us to come in that afternoon so that Eric could have a bone marrow biopsy.  The doctors meet every Wednesday morning to discuss in depth each patient, and they wanted the most up to date information possible for that meeting.  They had a very hard time getting any bone marrow, which reminded us of how hard it was for them to retrieve marrow from Eric when this whole cancer issue came up last summer.

We had only been home a short time Tuesday late afternoon when we received another call from the BMT clinic asking if we could be there Wednesday afternoon to meet with the doctor to find out the results from the meeting that morning.

Wednesday afternoon we were informed that Eric's cancer was back, which we knew from the biopsy of Eric's ribcage lump.  It is now leukemia.  From the start we were aware that Eric's form of cancer was very aggressive.  The chemotherapy in preparation for the stem cell transplant should have killed all the cancer, but it didn't.  The stem cells took hold and were growing new bone marros, but the aggressive cancer was too strong for it and that is why Eric's hematocrit was taking so long to go up and why his platelet count had started to go down.

The doctor, who was so kind and attentive, explained that Eric had four options to consider.  1--inpatient aggressive chemo and another bone marrow transplant.  This option only had a 5% chance of success.  2--inpatient aggressive chemo in the hopes that Eric would go into remission.  This option had a 20% chance of success, but he would probably not stay in remission long so they would give him a mini bone marrow transplant, with not a great chance that it would take.  3--outpatient rounds of low dose chemo monthly that would keep the cancer from progressing for an indeterminate length of time, possibly a year or two.  4--do nothing and call in hospice.

As we talked with the doctor, the highest quality of life by far was for Eric to have the maintenance chemo and treat things as they come up.  He doesn't want to be stuck in the hospital for another five weeks with such low odds for success.  Once he starts the heavy chemo he would be quarantined again.  We haven't seen our grandchildren since spring of 2013, and options 1 and 2 would keep us from seeing them for the next six months, and possibly longer because Eric's immune system would be so compromised.  So our tentative plan was to go with option 3.

This morning at 6:30 Eric had a scan of his entire body.  It picked up evidence of fluid in Eric's lungs with cancer in it, a suspicious gall bladder, an inflamed appendix, a large tumor in Eric's pelvic area, a few smaller areas of cancer, and the bump on his ribcage that started this whole process.  This confirmed that Eric's cancer is aggressive and lowered the odds on the success of either option 1 or 2.

We were at the hospital until 3:30 today.  We met with doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and radiologists.  They started Eric on the low dose chemo today and he will have 10 straight days of chemo.  As soon as he finishes that he will have 10 days of radiation on the tumor in his pelvis and on his ribcage.  After that Eric will have a round of chemo every month from here on out.  From what we heard today, the chemo and radiation will not have any significant negative effects and will have a positive effect on Eric's quality of life.

Surprisingly, it has not been hard to make the decision to go with option 3.  Eric and I both feel very good about it.  The heavy chemo and stem cell transplant in August was hard but well worth it.  We have had a lovely few months with Eric feeling much better than he did last summer.  We have had some great walks, some great talks, and even a day trip to central Utah to look at Indian rock art.

Our greatest concern is that those who have prayed for us will think that their prayers were not answered.  We feel very strongly that your prayers on our behalf were answered in the most positive way.  We have been aware of God's presence in our lives throughout this whole challenge.  We know the Lord loves us.  We know that He cares deeply what happens to us.  He has sustained us and blessed us and given us peace.  If you have children who have prayed for us, please let them know that we have appreciated their prayers.  Help them to understand that our loving Heavenly Father heard their prayers, has blessed us greatly, and that this is His will. 

We love you all.