Keep The Faith

 In January, when the myeloma monster sprang to life once again in my body, it prompted the inevitable conversations with my doctor about how far we were from the end of this pathway. Without talking  specific numbers of months or years his answer had two parts. First, he said that our backs weren't up against the wall...yet.  Treatment options exist that should still knock the cancer back down. Then he said something that is becoming a bit of a mantra for us.  He said, "I have a friend who surfs.  As my friend treats his patients, he often likens it to catching the next good wave ."   My doctor paused, then said, "Brian, it's time to ride the wave. " I will admit that we know very little about surfing, but as we finish up Cycle 5 of the clinical trial, the hard work of paddling out seems to be mostly finished.  We've turned our board to face the shoreline of the future. Even though this ocean and its waves are unpredictable, and at times frighten...

With yesterday's medications, cycle 4 of the treatment protocol is complete. We are halfway, and we remain #thankful for the opportunity to participate in the clinical trial of a drug that, from our perspective holds promise. As reported in the last update, some alterations were made to the drug combination for cycle 4 and the immediate change in quality of life confirmed the wisdom of those changes. Life is better without the steroid Dexamethasone! We are anxious to see whether the changes have altered the efficacy of the treatments. I am starting to understand that my whole journey with cancer is not as much about being "cured" as it is about being "healed." Curing is about those cancer cells in my plasma and blood. Healing is about cells and souls and surrender and faith and relationships and....  I may write a bit about that in the future, if I can wrap my mind around it. For now, give thanks with us!  Thanks for the time we spent with all but one of our fam...