Long Over Do Update

So sorry friends for not updating the blog until now. I suppose since Steve has been doing so well, and there were no immediate prayer needs I got complacent. The anniversary of his stem cell transplant quickly came and went. We have been so grateful for the "uneventful" year that we had, the lord has been gracious to us and answered our prayers. Steve now sees his primary oncologist every three months. His last visit was in January and she told him he was considered stable due to his m-spike remaining at .7. Plus he no longer has to get his blood checked every month. He loved hearing that.

Steve went in for his "annual' physical in February (he hasn't had one in over 3 years) and the doctor discovered he has hypothyroidism. Who knew how long this has been going on, the oncologist doesn't include checking the thyroid with his lab work. The revlimid he is taking is known to cause hypothyroidism. For now he is taking some medicine for it and we'll discuss this with the UCLA oncologist later this month to see what he thinks. Needless to say Steve is doing remarkably well. Praise the Lord!

Many things have happened during the past 5 months. My oldest son got married in October so I was making many trips to and from Sacramento in September and October. I was blessed to take care of our grandson, Gabriel, while his parents went on their honeymoon. As you can see we had a good time!

Just before Steve was diagnosed with myeloma, I began thinking about having a dog, as time went by the desire to have one became very strong. You could say I became a little obsessed with the idea (Steve would). He wasn't crazy about getting a dog and I knew if he wasn't on board then it wouldn't happen. Not only did he need to agree to getting a dog but we would need to build a gate across our driveway before a dog could live here. And with his illness the doctor's recommended we not get one for a while, if at all. There were many obstacles in the way of my dog!

Well, the good Lord worked it all out for both of us. Steve and I are now the doting "Papa" and "Mama" of B. B. Liscom (short for Bounding Beast and Big Boy). What else do you call a dog that lands on your front lawn! Here is what he looked like when he "arrived" back in July.

We tried to find the owner, put up signs, notified the pound, and halfheartedly tried to give him away. But no luck............then in September he had to have emergency surgery. Up until then we had no intention of keeping him. But once you are willing to sink a few dollars into an animal.....you begin to realize how much that animal means to you. And after Steve fell in love with him it was a done deal! The only way we were going to get a dog was the way it actually happened. Thank you Lord for our new baby!

Here he is now, happy, healthy and loved a whole bunch! He is a great dog....he guards the house, keeps the bad guys out and he loves, loves, loves to play. He is so much fun! And guess what...this weekend the gate is finally going up!

I promise to do much better about keeping the blog current. Thank you again for your prayers and please keep on praying for Natalie, Rosemary, John, Tim, Julie and Howard. Our brother Ash went home to be with the Lord in November. Please keep his wife and young daughters on your prayer list.

Life Returning to Normal

When starting this blog my desire was to keep everyone updated on Steve's condition. Since his conditioned has improved after the transplant there is less to report. I suppose this is a good thing. He now sees the doctor every three months unless anything new comes up. His next appointment is in 10 days and we'll get the latest news on his m-spike. Something we must stay on top of.

Steve just finished his 5th cycle of revlimid. The only side effects he experiences are bothersome but not life altering. He gets very dry skin and he tires out at the end of the cycle. But life has returned to normal, at least a new normal. We did go to the ER a few weeks ago, due to a sudden, sharp, persistent pain in his chest. After many test, it was determined he had pneumonia (no other symptoms except the pain!). Not a good diagnosis but better then a blood clot in his lung (which I thought it was).

He's now recovering from a cold, which has traveled into his lungs. So you KNOW I'm keeping an eye on him. All in all we have much to be thankful for. Especially when we think of many we know who are persevering through cancer treatments or a chronic illness. Please pray for Tim, Hayden, Natalie, Rosemary, Julie, Ash, Haven, John and Howard.

Love, Deanna
AKA Mrs. Liscom!

M-Spike Going Down!

Just before we left on our vacation to Lake Tahoe, we saw Steve's doctor. All of his labs were good and the best news is that his m-spike went down further, it's now 0.8! Even though it's just 0.2 points lower.....as long is it's on a downward trend that's all that matters.
We had a very lazy time on our vacation. (It was mostly me) We went away thinking we'd do all kinds of fun and relaxing things, only to find out that all we wanted to do is sleep in and lay around! Ugh! Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place and we were thankful to get away.
Please keep praying for Hayden, Rosemary, Tim, Natalie, Julie, Haven and Steve. We love you all and God Bless!

June Already!

Papa and Gabriel

Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers out there! For those of you who take time to read our blog, I want to thank you. I know it’s because you care about us and want to know how Steve is doing. It’s been harder and harder to keep the blog updated since I returned to work fulltime. Plus I we have been busy getting our home back in shape. It seems like every weekend there are more and more chores to do!

In late May Steve saw his oncologist at UCLA, the one who oversaw his stem cell transplant. He was pleased with the bone marrow biopsy results. He just wants to see the protein level in his blood to go to zero (m-spike). He feels strongly that it will now that Steve is taking revlimid. If it does, he will be in full-remission! Praise God!

Steve just completed the second cycle of revlimid and we we’ll find out this Friday if it is working. (Pray for great results!). The not so good news is that there have been some new findings on the long term use of revlimid in myeloma patients. There appears to be a high probability that it can cause secondary cancers. (I hear this about most blood cancer treatments.) The doctor only wants him to take it for 2 years. Hopefully by that time there will be some new drugs available.

So how is he feeling? He has some bad days and bad moments, where he doesn’t feel well and/or has some pain. The worst is when the he gets a foot or leg cramp in the middle of the night. Fortunately they are not very often. We think most of this is due to all the medication he is taking. But it could also be his body is still recovering from the transplant. It’s hard to say. He keeps himself busy and his overall health is good. Right now our greatest concern is for some very dear people we know and love, they all have cancer. Their situations are not as promising at the moment. Please, please pray for them and their families; Rosemary, my sister, Hayden, my boss’s 5 year old son and Julie, our Pastor’s wife. Continue to pray for Tim, Natalie and Dave.

Revlimid Retry

Thanks to the resources on the list serve we joined, http://www.acor.org/types.html, Association of Cancer Online Resources, I learned many patients succeed with Revlimid when taken with Benadryl. So after Steve developed the rash and stopped the medications, we asked if he could restart the revlimid with benadryl. Which he did 13 days ago. So far he's not had no itching or a rash appear. Thank you Lord.

I recommend the list serve for anyone who want to learn more about life with cancer. You just join the list for the cancer you are dealing with. You can choose to receive a daily email update of the questions and answers that have been posted that day, or just log on and go through the archives. I have learned so much about multiple myeloma from the many people who participate.

Longer update to come soon. Thanks again for your prayers!

Love, Deanna

Revlimid and the Rash

Steve started his maintenance drug, Revlimid, on Wednesday night. By Friday night he was itching his head and then Saturday morning he woke up with the rash. This is what we were praying would not happen. It means he is having an allergic reaction. He stopped the drug and plans on calling the doctor on Monday. We are hoping that he will be able to start the Revlimid again but this time take it with Benadryl. As a reminder, his oncologist said he needs to take a maintenance drug and if it's not Revlimid it will be dexamethasone (which has it's own set of problems).

Keep us in prayer and don't forget Hayden, Haven and Tim, all fighting Leukemia.

Our Family and God's Blessings

This past year Steve and I faced our toughest trial yet. While I reflect on the days past which are now but a memory, I remember some being more difficult then others. But there were a few days sandwiched in between some tough weeks and months where we could almost forget Steve had cancer. And during that time and even today we are surrounded by the love of our children, our friends, our pastors and our extended family members. All God's blessings! That old saying comes to mind "Stop and smell the roses!" We can't stay in the place of suffering while we suffer, we must stop, we must enjoy God's blessings. Blessings come in many forms, people, prayer, God's favor, God's Word, kindness of others, trials (yes, trials)....the list goes on. These blessings are given to us for encouragement, strength, hope and most importantly for God's glory! We thank you Lord for your many blessings in our lives!

This past year brought us two new family members, our daughter-in-law Erika, and our first born grandchild, Gabriel. Here is at just 3 months, looking more and more like his beautiful mother.


This is Steve just before his transplant, still smiling!
Steve and his son Dane have not been able to see each other very much since he got sick. With all the treatments and complications we were not able to drive to Reno as often as we would like. Since July, 2009 he has only gone to see Dane three times. Here he is with Dane just a few weeks ago. Two very happy people! And look, for the first time ever, Dane's hair is longer then his Dad's!Papa's first time holding Gabriel (Gabriel is 5 weeks old).Gabriel and his mommy and daddy, Erika and Daniel.
All "my" kids, Daniel, Andrew, Me, Gabriel, Stephanie, Erika and Timothy!
We know that life will bring us more challenges. But we also know God is going to bring us more blessings!. His word tells us he will! Please keep praying for Hayden, Tim, Kryslynn & Ray, Marlene, Natalie & Dave and my beloved husband.