Red Door Road: Reminded To Keep Trusting God

Being part of a clinical trial has shown me to expect the unexpected. Very unpredictable!
Below is the chart I made to follow Steve's progress. I realize its a bit hard to read (I have to zoom in a little) put it really helps me since I like to see history.

We were concerned when we learned in late January that the m-spike went up (1.5)…and we were very eager to see the results of the 1/30 Labs. We found out in late February the m-spike went back down to 1.3. For us this was great news. As long as Steve takes the steroids with the pomalidomide then it works! Wonderful!

So as you can imagine we went to our last visit (2/27) feeling pretty good! But along with the increase in January…there was monoclonal protein in the 24 hour urine test for the very first time ever. I kinda wondered about it, but nothing was said so I let it go. (The m-spike can be measured in the blood and in the urine. It all has to do with kappa and lambda light & heavy chains. The 24 hour urine test reveals an overage of monoclonal protein which spills over into the urine. If it continues it will mean the disease is progressing into a new direction. At least that is my understanding.)

So back to our visit on Friday, just as we entered the clinic to be seen by the nurse, Dr S. spots us and says "I need to see that guy today"! Uh oh.

He did not like seeing the m-spike in the urine and said he wanted to take Steve off the trial and go to something new. What! He wants to see a 50% reduction in Steve's total m-spike. After discussing it for a few minutes, I asked about the last urine test, what did it show? He didn't have the information and snapped at the interns to go find "R" our nurse. He left the room mumbling and didn't come back. R came in and told us the urine test came back at ZERO! So Steve started cycle 7 on Friday, she conveyed to us that if the next test didn't show a bigger decrease, then Dr S. wants Steve off the trial and onto something new.

I asked the nurse if we had any say in the matter and she said yes. But I realize that we need to talk to the doctor and find out why he is so concerned, what hasn't he told us? Now I'm just speculating and that's no good.

Early February the grandkids came down from Rail Road Flats (hometown) and stayed for 4 days. I have to say, spending time with these precious children really helped us both. It filled our tanks, so to speak and gave us a chance to forget about all this cancer stuff and focus on loving, hugging and squeezing these 2 cuties! Number 3 is due in July!