I need to make a clarification to my last blog. It seems that the aggressive chemo that I mentioned might not be for a while, if at all.

I was confused (couldn't imagine why) as to the timeline of my treatment. I will try to outline the the treatment (as best as I know it) for you below.

The first thing that you (and I) have to remember is that I have a disease that has no cure but is treatable. I have stage I Multiple Myeloma and as my doctor has said, there are a few different "camps" of thought processes on how to treat the disease.

He starts the patient out on Revlimid, Dexamethosone and Aspirin, and a drug called Velcade. Unfortunately, Velcade causes the patient to have numbness and tingling in the extremities (along with other side effects). As you know I already have that due to the tumor that was pressing on my spinal cord, so he has not put me on the Velcade yet but really wants me on it.

Velcade has 8 to 11 treatment cycles. Each cycle is 21 days. So it alone is about 7-8 months of treatments. So the faster I can get on it the better.

I then get re-assessed as to the next treatment, if any. Clinical trials have shown different results, from remission, to no progression, to still needing treatment.

It is then I would be treated with a chemo and a stem cell transplant. But, that is further down the road, a road I may never need to travel.

Our next step is to learn more about Velcade and its side effects and to see if it would interfere with my rehabilitation up to now. Either way we need to deal aggressively with the Multiple Myeloma.

That's it for now.

Keep up the prayers for us!!!

Jenny