Cancer may be chewing away at my bones but the spirit cannot be harmed. ke9se
In early May of 2006 I was diagnosed with Stage IIIb (Durie-Salmon staging system) Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow. It moved swiftly, and because of a misdiagnosis from my family doctor, came close to putting me in the ground. The picture on the right is what is left after a summer of Induction Chemo-Therapy (Velcade, Dexametasone and Zometa ) followed by two bone marrow stem-cell transplants, November 2006 and January of 2007.
A total of five weeks was spent in an isolated, air filtered room at UW Madison Hospital and a few more weeks at home in bed. This caused my legs to waste away through atrophy. A lot of work was needed to start riding again. 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 continues to cause a lot of back problems but leaning over a set of handlebars for a while is ok.
This summer (2009) the Myeloma has become recurrent for the third time and I am now on a Multi-Chemo regimen of Lenalidomide (Revlimid) daily , Bortezomib (Velcade) via my port weekly, Melphalan (Alkeran) is taken four days per month, and Dexamethazone (Dex) is taken weekly in tablet form. Zometa is taken monthly through my port as a bone strengthening agent.
Unfortunately, there is no known cure for this type of cancer but it is treatable for a time.
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
Here is a link to the UW Madison Hospital newsletter which highlighted The Ride to Fight Cancer;
http://www.uwhealth.org/news/danlestercarabonecancercenter/20658
This picture was taken while on a water break at Fox Lake, July 13, 2009 during The Ride to Fight Cancer, my own creation to invoke awareness through example.
To give cancer patients on the edge of giving up, one more reason to continue fighting, and to thank the Doctors, Nurses, and other healthcare professionals at UW Madison for bringing me to this point.
100 Kilometers (63 Miles) from Waupun to UW Madison Hospital. I had full cooperation from my family who drove support vehicles for water and energy snacks. My brother and sister-in-law, avid bicyclists, both rode with me in a show of support.
The welcome received at UW Madison was beyond anything I could have imagined. I would do it again anytime.
This will have to wait for a while however because as early as two weeks before this ride I could feel the beast in my bones returning. especially while exerting on hills. A bone marrow biopsy in late July has revealed 70% recurrent Myeloma without mention of remission. Good news is that I am having a good response to the new chemo-regimen.
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