Happy Anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary. Jill has survived 21 years with me. Our marriage is old enough to drink!! In many ways, it seems like only a couple of years since our wedding day, and in other ways it seems as if we have always been us. This, I believe, is what is referred to in the fairy tales as "wedded bliss." Only, in our case, it isn't a fairy tale at all. It's just, well...wedded bliss. How I love that girl!

A year ago today, I finished my induction chemotherapy at Club Sunnyside. Jill picked up German food at Gustav's, which is across the street from the hospital campus. She also picked up Bundt cakes from "Nothing Bundt Cake;" a little one for us and a big one for the oncology staff. It was as fine a celebration as we could muster under the circumstances, and one we will never forget. 

Today we had a morning clinic visit. This time for Jill's blood pressure, which with the help of a new medication added to her regimen, is perfect, thank you very much. We had a nice walk around the neighborhood (our usual two mile loop) and then enjoyed some lunch. After our repast (Lunch with Perry [Mason]) I received an email alerting me to a new lab test result. I logged on to my health record and found the report. It is pages long, but the relevant part is this: 

The aggregate findings are consistent with relapsed/recurrent acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

This was not a welcome report, but neither is it totally unexpected. The wonky blood counts have made me suspicious. I was hoping for some minor thing that could be fixed with a couple of pills. Not to be. I shared the news with Jill. That is the hardest part of this process for me. I love her so much, and it hurts to have to tell her devastating news. She cried. We held each other. We talked it through, and painful as this news is, we realized that the things we need to remember are:

1. God is in control of the situation. His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts. 
2. He will never leave us nor forsake us. 
3. We need to focus on doing the things we have control over.
4. This isn't the end, and there is life to be lived. 
   
5. There is hope in the form of additional treatment regimens that are available. 

Our Anniversary, remember that? We decided to do something memorable, so we hopped in the good ol' Ford and headed for Waterfront Park in Independence. It is a lovely community center type of area. There is an amphitheater, where various presentations happen from time to time. There is a boat launch and a dog park, a brand new hotel; and the downtown merchants have transformed the area into a fun place to nose around. 

On our way over there, Dr. Waugh called to go over the details of the lab report. She said there are a few options for what to do next. The first is to do nothing and let nature take her course. 

The second option is to embark on a chemotherapy regimen that involves spending a month in the hospital. It would involve another 7and3 series (seven days of one medication and three days of another, concomitantly), followed by three weeks of monitoring. Following that round, other chemotherapy would be ordered, as needed, based on the outcome of another bone marrow biopsy.

Finally, there is a regimen that comprises injected chemotherapy daily for seven days along with daily oral medication. The oral medication then continues for balance of the 28 day cycle, at which time another seven days of injections occurs. This regimen is the one that Dr. Waugh and Dr. Cook at OHSU recommend. Dr. Waugh explained that this combination seems to provide the best balance of increased longevity and quality of life. 

So now we are awaiting further instructions about when we will begin treatment. This outpatient treatment is our choice, and it will begin in a week or two, when time becomes available in the infusion center; and if there is no time soon enough at the infusion center, I may be hospitalized for the seven days of injections. 

Some of the implications of all this are that I will again be severely immunocompromised. That means very limited social contacts, restricted diet, days of feeling tired and probably light-headed, blood transfusions. So, this is no picnic. But as they told me at Club Sunnyside more than a year ago, this is not a sprint, it is a marathon. 

Happy Anniversary, Baby! I didn't plan it this way, and you don't deserve this, but I am so glad you are with me on this journey. 

Job said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

The Doxology: 

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

AMEN!