Thursday Evening
Greetings from Indy!
Let’s start tonight by saying that Marty is in Room 6606 at St. Vincent’s Hospital. The address is 2001 West 86th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46260. The direct phone number is 1.317.338.0705 and the toll free is 1.866.338.6795.
Now how did we get here? Yesterday when we went to Dr. Lee’s office for a CBC we were told that he wanted to see us also. So, when he came in the room, he sat down and said, “Martha it’s bad news.” Then he told us that the bone marrow biopsy done last Friday showed that there is 40 to 45% “blasts” in the bone marrow. Last fall, when Marty was treated with chemo, the “blast” or cancer cells in the bone marrow were 10 to 15%. Dr. Lee then said “You have two choices: first – do something towards a bone marrow transplant; or second – do nothing and you will die in two to three months. Of course, last Friday we had talked about the bone marrow transplant and the low odds that go along with it. At that time, Dr. Lee said that we had no options that had any better odds. Before you can really talk about the transplant, or maybe I should say, before the transplant can be started, Marty must be in remission. Therefore, we are in here now to do a remission induction. It will be done with chemo that Marty has never had. One agent is called VP 16 or etoposide and the other agent is mitoxantrone. Dr. Lee said that with these two we do have a realistic shot for remission. I am not sure what that means but at least it sounds good. Marty will have this chemo for 5 days beginning tomorrow and then we will wait for it to do its job and then for Marty’s body to recover. All of this will mean that we will be here for 4 weeks like we were last fall.
The transplant doc. is away this week, so we will talk to him next week. At this point we assume that he will start making arrangements for the transplant, but will not follow through until Marty is in remission. The last time we talked to that doc., he said that Marty has a pretty common bone marrow, etc. and that it should not be too difficult to match from the National Bone Marrow Bank. I guess we will see.
When we hear about the latest problems with the AML last Friday, Marty and I were talking and she said: “Either way I am going to die, but at least I would like to do so trying to live.” Praise the Lord! We are going to give it the very best shot that is possible, and we know that the staff here on the 6th floor will do all that they can to help. So, it looks positive and we certainly pray that it is God’s will and that He will be glorified by Marty’s life continuing on this earth.
You know we talk all the time of putting all of our faith and trust in God and often find that very hard to do. We can do that with some things, but most of the time not with all things. It seems like there are always those few things that we will not give up to the Lord.
Well this afternoon I was given an interesting thought, by a man I met on the elevator, about all that, that obviously I want to share with you. Do you ride an elevator when you are in a building that has more than one floor and has an elevator between them? When you do so what do you do with your faith and trust? Do you not put it all in the mechanical operation of that elevator? And do you not put your total trust and faith in the operation of the elevator? You don’t leave anything on the outside do you? Well, if we put our total faith and trust in an elevator, why can’t we do the same with God?
Please have a positive day and God bless.
Marty and Jack
John 3:16,
Greetings from Indy!
Let’s start tonight by saying that Marty is in Room 6606 at St. Vincent’s Hospital. The address is 2001 West 86th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46260. The direct phone number is 1.317.338.0705 and the toll free is 1.866.338.6795.
Now how did we get here? Yesterday when we went to Dr. Lee’s office for a CBC we were told that he wanted to see us also. So, when he came in the room, he sat down and said, “Martha it’s bad news.” Then he told us that the bone marrow biopsy done last Friday showed that there is 40 to 45% “blasts” in the bone marrow. Last fall, when Marty was treated with chemo, the “blast” or cancer cells in the bone marrow were 10 to 15%. Dr. Lee then said “You have two choices: first – do something towards a bone marrow transplant; or second – do nothing and you will die in two to three months. Of course, last Friday we had talked about the bone marrow transplant and the low odds that go along with it. At that time, Dr. Lee said that we had no options that had any better odds. Before you can really talk about the transplant, or maybe I should say, before the transplant can be started, Marty must be in remission. Therefore, we are in here now to do a remission induction. It will be done with chemo that Marty has never had. One agent is called VP 16 or etoposide and the other agent is mitoxantrone. Dr. Lee said that with these two we do have a realistic shot for remission. I am not sure what that means but at least it sounds good. Marty will have this chemo for 5 days beginning tomorrow and then we will wait for it to do its job and then for Marty’s body to recover. All of this will mean that we will be here for 4 weeks like we were last fall.
The transplant doc. is away this week, so we will talk to him next week. At this point we assume that he will start making arrangements for the transplant, but will not follow through until Marty is in remission. The last time we talked to that doc., he said that Marty has a pretty common bone marrow, etc. and that it should not be too difficult to match from the National Bone Marrow Bank. I guess we will see.
When we hear about the latest problems with the AML last Friday, Marty and I were talking and she said: “Either way I am going to die, but at least I would like to do so trying to live.” Praise the Lord! We are going to give it the very best shot that is possible, and we know that the staff here on the 6th floor will do all that they can to help. So, it looks positive and we certainly pray that it is God’s will and that He will be glorified by Marty’s life continuing on this earth.
You know we talk all the time of putting all of our faith and trust in God and often find that very hard to do. We can do that with some things, but most of the time not with all things. It seems like there are always those few things that we will not give up to the Lord.
Well this afternoon I was given an interesting thought, by a man I met on the elevator, about all that, that obviously I want to share with you. Do you ride an elevator when you are in a building that has more than one floor and has an elevator between them? When you do so what do you do with your faith and trust? Do you not put it all in the mechanical operation of that elevator? And do you not put your total trust and faith in the operation of the elevator? You don’t leave anything on the outside do you? Well, if we put our total faith and trust in an elevator, why can’t we do the same with God?
Please have a positive day and God bless.
Marty and Jack
John 3:16,
posted by Jack | 6:35 PM
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