REMISSION!!!

With everyone's fingers crossed and prayers we have reached REMISSION!

Mark and I seen Dr. Zangari today and he went over all labs and the bone marrow biopsy. He is not showing any markers of the myeloma. Dr. Zangari was almost amazed at how well Mark has done. I am not going to get all technical here with numbers and charts. I will just tell you that Mark went from 95% down to 0.2%
Mark will still be on a maintenance program. He will go in for medications for the next year. They will do lab work and keep a close eye to make sure this cancer does not raise its ugly head back up.

We don't see Dr. Z for three more months.. No offence but YAY!
Dr. Z told Mark be careful with his back, but go do what you like to do. Of course use caution around sick people. It will still be hard for him to shake off an illness.

Mark still will tire easily and will need time to get his strength back.

So now i would like to thank just some of our team that has worked so hard to get Mark to this point.

FIRST MARK FOR BEING A FIGHTER

Dr. Zangari and Dr.Tricot

The Amazing Andrea Noordewier our PA

Our Coordinator Carol Neilson

Celeste and the girls in the Office Benadetta and Jenna

There are so many more to acknowledge, like all the nurses in the BMT Infusion room Katrina Dr Z's Nurse. All our family and friend's, all our new friend we have made along this journey

thank you to each one of you.
You are the one's that got us through the worst part of this.
Don't stop looking at Mark's page there will still be updates on how he is doing and what he is doing.

Starting to get out and about

Up to the Forth of July we had a hard time getting Mark to get up and do anything. He was starting to worry me. On the Forth he decided he wanted to go for a ride up the canyon. I didn't care were as long as he wanted to get up and moving, then I was on my way. So Shane, Mark and I took a ride up Middle Canyon and decided to go to the Copper Pit. It was a slow bumpy ride, so we went slow and easy for him.

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That evening we watched our neighbor light off fireworks. (better than Tooele City) He also has a race car he likes to light the tires up on. Mark could not resist, he went home and got his car out and burned the tires up the street. Sorry it was to dark for the pictures. Sense then he has been moving around and doing things... Thanks Mike.

So this wanting to get out thing has brought us to today. Mark decided he wanted to go up to Trial Lake to go fishing. Mark invited his brother Wes to go. So Wes, Colton, Mark and Shane went fishing. They had a great mans day out. I stayed home to relax, that didn't happen.

And don't forget the ONLY fish Mark caught.. poor thing

Mark still has his up days and his down days, but is starting to have more up days. He still will go in for meds on Wednesdays. Also the bone biopsy and labs at the end of the month to make sure he has gone into remission.

GREAT NEWS!!

Mark and I met with Dr. Zangari on Wednesday to go over labs and to see were we go from here.

Dr."Z" said that lab work shows that Mark is at 0. This means that the myeloma is in REMISSION. Mark still has to do some tests, like the bone marrow biopsy, MRI and more labs in about four weeks to confirm all this for sure. Dr"Z" told Mark he can get out and do pretty much what he wants to. Just don't over do it he is still very weak and tired, he will have up days and down days.

Mark will be doing a maintenance program were he goes in to the Huntsman for labs and some IV med's for a year.

Dr "Z" strongly wants Mark to see Dr Schmitt again to see what can be done with his broken T5 vertebrae. This appointment will be about four to six weeks out.

I think this news has given Mark some good positive energy.

Her is just one of the test that shows the drop.

He got through this with everyone's thoughts, prayers and encouragement. Let's all hope he don't have to go through this hell for another 15 or more years.

Happy Birthday

It's a Happy Birthday they let Mark out of the hospital today. He is fully engrafted and whatever was causing the fevers is gone. He is still very weak and tired, but happy to be home.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK

Please leave your name on the comments so we know who you are, Thanks

Update to hospital stay

Today the doctors came in to visit Mark. He wants to keep Mark one more day. So far there is no infection showing. His kidneys are being a little tricky, his body also may have been trying to rejecting the new stem cells. It is possible one or both have caused the fevers. Because he also has a low blood pressure which is normal for after transplant, they will watch him another day.
He has been pretty stubborn with the nurses and me about getting up. So they had to call in reinforcement, the physical therapist. They had to make him get up and walk.
The good news is he has engrafted, and his white cell has tripled in two days.
As of this afternoon he is filling much better and walking when he is suppose to.
Thank you everyone for the calls, prayers, thoughts and offers.
There is nothing anyone can do, even me. It is Mark’s body that has to do the work now. Shane and I have everything else under control.
So thanks again everyone.

To soon

I am sorry I posted to soon. At 10:00pm Mark spiked a fever. He was admitted to the Huntsman Hospital by 11:30 pm. They are doing test to look for infection.
I will update more as I find out.

Day seven

Today is day seven post transplant and most everything is still going well. Marks white blood cell count hit bottom and now is back on the rise. Still no immune system right now.
Last night Mark broke out in a rash that had welts the size of silver dollars. I gave him some Benadryl, and we talk to Andrea the PA today. Mark is allergic to the Neupogen shot they give him to boot his stem cell production. As long as he takes the Benadryl he doesn’t itch and the rash calms down. So we can continue to boost the cells this way. He was tired before, now he is really tired.
Tomorrows visit Mark will receive platelets, his platelet count has dropped, this is normal. Mark didn't need platelets with the first transplant. So Mark will get platelets, the neupogen shot and the daily antibiotics.

Well Mark’s hair all came back in so nice. Bad news it is all going to fall out again any day now .
Mark is on the up hill side of this. Lets all hope it stays on this good side.