Gary's Stem Cell Transplant Fund
Spende geschützt
Friends, Family...
CANCER. On April 1, 2015, my diagnosis changed to Multiple Myeloma. Approximately 2-4 months from now, I will undergo a Stem Cell Transplant at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. Prior to the Stem Cell Transplant, I will have 2 to 4 cycles of chemotherapy. The chemotherapy will be completed at South Carolina Oncology Associates in Columbia, SC.
I started chemo on April 17th. Nervous and excited. Nervous knowing what I don't know. Excited that I'm finally treating what I knew I had. Each day of treatment, is a day closer to remission and recovery.
Friday will be a huge day for me. Not only is Friday the start of the third week of chemo, but Friday is one year since I was diagnosed with cancer. The day has been in my head for weeks. Visualizing the day, I can nearly account for every minute, as time was slowly ticking away.
During my two-month (minimum) stem cell transplant at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, I will require a caregiver round the clock. We will need to find a furnished apartment, board the pets, ensure transportation (plane) for family and friends that will assist as caregiver, ensure transporation to the hospital, and of course, eat. All this while maintaining my home in Columbia, SC.
Robin and I have travelled to MD Anderson twice. I can't even imagine being away for two months.
ATTITUDE: Strong. Solid. Focused.
MY MOTO: NEVER QUIT, NEVER STOP, NOT TODAY, NOT EVER
To keep it simple, I DID develop into Multiple Myeloma.
INITIAL DIAGNOSIS (2 MAY 14):
As many of you may know, I was diagnosed with a "solitary plasmacytoma" at the base of my spine on May 2, 2014. For many months prior to this diagnosis, I had severe back and leg pain. All of my doctors attributed the pain to bulging discs at L4 & L5 seen in an MRI done in October 2013. None of the standard treatments for this gave any relief.
In April 2014, one of my doctors thought outside the box and ordered another MRI of my spine, this time to include a view of the pelvic area and the left piriformis muscle (suspecting a muscle tear). The new view made all the difference. The MRI was done on May 1st at 5:30pm. At 9:09 am on Friday, May 2nd I received a call from the doctor just as I was handing out "route marking assignments" for the 2014 Tour de Cure....which happened to be the next day, May 2nd.
The MRI showed a mass the size of a softball at the base of my spine on the S2 and S3 vertebrae. Over the next several weeks, we got answers to these and other questions. We saw specialists at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta. We went from thinking this was a rare and aggressive cancer needing immediate surgery, to confirming with a bone marrow biopsy that it was a milder (on the surface) cancer diagnosis called a solitary plasmacytoma. On May 14th, a full body scan was done and results were clear, no other suspected cancer locations, According to the oncologist, the solitary plasmacytoma will "just melt away" with radiation.
For now, the only treatment was radiation. I completed my first round of 16 radiation treatments on June 12, 2014. Nine weeks after my last treatment, I had a CT and a PET scan. The tumor did not shrink. The tumor did not melt away. The cancer was still there, but I needed to confirm.
On 2 Sept 14, we were back at Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. Plan was to biopsy the tumor (again). Results came back positive. Cancer.
It's now October 28th. I turned 48 Friday. On October 29th, I will have finished my second round of radiation (10 treatments). For the next few months, I will have to wait to find out if this second round of radiation did the job. If a scan were to be accomplished shortly after radiation, the CT and PET scan results will be inconclusive due to post radiation tumor swelling. I expect to be scanned in early February 2015.
During a visit with the oncologist, the doctor advised us that he wanted to do blood work every 3 months to watch for the possible development of multiple myeloma (cancerous, abnormal plasma cells in the bone marrow) and for the presence of amyloid (cancerous, abnormal plasma cells settling in the organs).
According to our oncologist, there is a high probability that this type of cancer could become systemic and develop into multiple myeloma.....
So...now what? Nothing stops, everything continues: work, cycling, boating, yard work, watching the Red Sox (wait till next year), etc. Since being diagnosed, I've averaged 375 to 400 miles on the bike per month. I refuse to stop. There is too much to do.
Robin and I are attacking this on with all our fury.
During the "EMS Memorial Star of Life Ride" in Gaston, SC...I came up with my motivator:
NEVER QUIT, NEVER STOP, NOT TODAY, NOT EVER
Robin will be participating in the 2015 IRONMAN Lake Placid on July 26, 2015 as part of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) Team For Cures.
CANCER. On April 1, 2015, my diagnosis changed to Multiple Myeloma. Approximately 2-4 months from now, I will undergo a Stem Cell Transplant at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. Prior to the Stem Cell Transplant, I will have 2 to 4 cycles of chemotherapy. The chemotherapy will be completed at South Carolina Oncology Associates in Columbia, SC.
I started chemo on April 17th. Nervous and excited. Nervous knowing what I don't know. Excited that I'm finally treating what I knew I had. Each day of treatment, is a day closer to remission and recovery.
Friday will be a huge day for me. Not only is Friday the start of the third week of chemo, but Friday is one year since I was diagnosed with cancer. The day has been in my head for weeks. Visualizing the day, I can nearly account for every minute, as time was slowly ticking away.
During my two-month (minimum) stem cell transplant at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, I will require a caregiver round the clock. We will need to find a furnished apartment, board the pets, ensure transportation (plane) for family and friends that will assist as caregiver, ensure transporation to the hospital, and of course, eat. All this while maintaining my home in Columbia, SC.
Robin and I have travelled to MD Anderson twice. I can't even imagine being away for two months.
ATTITUDE: Strong. Solid. Focused.
MY MOTO: NEVER QUIT, NEVER STOP, NOT TODAY, NOT EVER
To keep it simple, I DID develop into Multiple Myeloma.
INITIAL DIAGNOSIS (2 MAY 14):
As many of you may know, I was diagnosed with a "solitary plasmacytoma" at the base of my spine on May 2, 2014. For many months prior to this diagnosis, I had severe back and leg pain. All of my doctors attributed the pain to bulging discs at L4 & L5 seen in an MRI done in October 2013. None of the standard treatments for this gave any relief.
In April 2014, one of my doctors thought outside the box and ordered another MRI of my spine, this time to include a view of the pelvic area and the left piriformis muscle (suspecting a muscle tear). The new view made all the difference. The MRI was done on May 1st at 5:30pm. At 9:09 am on Friday, May 2nd I received a call from the doctor just as I was handing out "route marking assignments" for the 2014 Tour de Cure....which happened to be the next day, May 2nd.
The MRI showed a mass the size of a softball at the base of my spine on the S2 and S3 vertebrae. Over the next several weeks, we got answers to these and other questions. We saw specialists at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta. We went from thinking this was a rare and aggressive cancer needing immediate surgery, to confirming with a bone marrow biopsy that it was a milder (on the surface) cancer diagnosis called a solitary plasmacytoma. On May 14th, a full body scan was done and results were clear, no other suspected cancer locations, According to the oncologist, the solitary plasmacytoma will "just melt away" with radiation.
For now, the only treatment was radiation. I completed my first round of 16 radiation treatments on June 12, 2014. Nine weeks after my last treatment, I had a CT and a PET scan. The tumor did not shrink. The tumor did not melt away. The cancer was still there, but I needed to confirm.
On 2 Sept 14, we were back at Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. Plan was to biopsy the tumor (again). Results came back positive. Cancer.
It's now October 28th. I turned 48 Friday. On October 29th, I will have finished my second round of radiation (10 treatments). For the next few months, I will have to wait to find out if this second round of radiation did the job. If a scan were to be accomplished shortly after radiation, the CT and PET scan results will be inconclusive due to post radiation tumor swelling. I expect to be scanned in early February 2015.
During a visit with the oncologist, the doctor advised us that he wanted to do blood work every 3 months to watch for the possible development of multiple myeloma (cancerous, abnormal plasma cells in the bone marrow) and for the presence of amyloid (cancerous, abnormal plasma cells settling in the organs).
According to our oncologist, there is a high probability that this type of cancer could become systemic and develop into multiple myeloma.....
So...now what? Nothing stops, everything continues: work, cycling, boating, yard work, watching the Red Sox (wait till next year), etc. Since being diagnosed, I've averaged 375 to 400 miles on the bike per month. I refuse to stop. There is too much to do.
Robin and I are attacking this on with all our fury.
During the "EMS Memorial Star of Life Ride" in Gaston, SC...I came up with my motivator:
NEVER QUIT, NEVER STOP, NOT TODAY, NOT EVER
Robin will be participating in the 2015 IRONMAN Lake Placid on July 26, 2015 as part of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) Team For Cures.
Organisator
Gary Rudman
Organisator
Columbia, SC