First tests for BMT @ John Hopkins

OK, we spent the last 2 days at John Hopkins with them running all kinds of tests.
Appts started at 7AM on the 2nd of Dec, ending after 4:30PM with a tour of the IPOP on the 5th floor of the Weinberg Building. Of course we left Debbie's townhouse at 5:30AM to get there in time and found that it only took 37 minutes from her house in Pasadena to get to JH. 895 seems to have less traffic than 695, $2 toll takes a few people out of the mix.

Wednesday started later, with us leaving Debbie's at 6:30AM and arriving around 7:10 at JH. Parked at Weinberg Building again, same great space - too early for most others! Started appts at 8:30 and continued through 11:35 when we stopped and were successful in changing our 3PM to 1PM, so we could leave earlier. Everything worked out and we were able to get away by 1:45 or so.

Picked up Bathory from Bob & Bobbie's, she had so much fun being loved there. She came home, ate her dinner and went to sleep on all our bed pillows upstairs, just like she had never been gone.

Watched Shark Tale again, needed to unwind and not watch too closely.

Wow - so many appts

Sept and Oct have been a rush of doctor appointments. Dr Balepur, Dr Zimmerman (possible Bexaar treatment), Dr Meade in JH.. Final thoughts are - no Bexaar but a full bone marrow transplant is needed.

Adele will be having a BMT using her own bone marrow (stem cells) taken from her blood and frozen until she is ready for re-implantation. This will be done at John Hopkins with Dr Meade as the leading physician in the team. Many tests and other things need to be done before then.

First thing is to have 2 or 3 rounds of RICE chemo treatments to get the cancer under control somewhat. Then JH has the say at what we will do then.

I am writing this to fill in the gaps (on Dec 10) so we know there were 2 treatments of RICE and the tests at JH are many. Already through 2 days (14 appts) and have many more days of procedures before we are able to get into the BMT procedure.

Cat Scan shows cancer is back

Today Dr Balepur told us the CAT scan on Aug 7th showed the cancer is back. We will need another biopsy, under the arm this time to see what treatment will be best. In the mean time Adele is trying to get ready for the school year and her new class of 2nd graders.

Visit John Hopkins for 2nd Opinion

We visited John Hopkins in Baltimore and Dr Meade to get a second opinion about how Adele's cancer was handled. We both thought why are we doing this, but it turned out well later.

Dr Meade said he would have handled it the same as Dr Balepur, had he been in the same position. But as JH is a research hospital he might have gone a different way possibly trying some trial or something. But he is confident that Dr Balepur did the right thing.

Lunch at the PA Governor's Mansion

Adele and I enjoyed a lunch at the Gov's mansion in Harrisburg, thanks to the PA Breast Cancer Coalition for inviting us. Met Kathleen a few days before she was hired and had Kim at our table. This is one of the many times this spring that we had no worries about cancer.

Thank you to every person at the PA Breast Cancer Coalition for inviting us.

Trip to GA

We went to Augusta and Atlanta to visit and spend time with Eric & Julie. In Atlanta we visited the Georgia Aquarium, friends of theirs, Anthropologie and a baby store (Hanna Anderson).

Back in Augusta we swam in their pool and had a great time relaxing while Eric worked.

Clear of cancer

Dr Balepur said the PET scan from May 12th was clear of all cancer. Will schedule a CAT scan in 3 months. In the mean time we will enjoy the next months as Adele is not working anyway. We can go anywhere and do anything.