ke9se

This picture was taken just before a bike ride, August of 2007

Cancer may be chewing away at my bones but the spirit cannot be harmed.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow in April 2006. It moved swiftly, and because of a misdiagnosis from my family doctor, came close to putting me in the ground. This picture is what is left after a summer of Chemo-Therapy (Velcade, Dexametazone and Zometa )and two bone marrow stem-cell transplants, November 2006 and January of 2007. A total of five weeks in an isolated room at UW Madison Hospital and a few more weeks at home in bed, caused my legs to waste away through atrophy. A lot of work was needed to get somewhat back into shape. I lost 2 inches of height in my torso due to a collapse of  t-11 and t-12 vertebrae, they were softened by the tumors within them, this causes a lot of back problems but leaning over a set of handlebars for a short time is ok. This summer will be even better with a new road bike even though I am still on a low-dose Chemo-therapy program of Cyclophosphamide and Zometa

Unfortunately, there is no known cure for this type of cancer.

If you would like to view my Ham Radio webpage please click this link, http://my.execpc.com/~tachyon/ke9se/index.htm

If you would like to know more about Multiple Myeloma click here, http://my.execpc.com/~tachyon/ke9se/mm.htm

73 for now, Dan