Back in Arkansas!

I flew out Thurdsay afternoon after spending the morning visiting my coworkers (and picking up my new laptop and blackberry). I'm out on short-term disability probably until I start maintenance, but I still needed to have my laptop replaced since my old one was going out of warranty. I also had to get a new Blackberry as part of a transition they were doing to use only one service provider. At first I was excited to hear I was getting a new one because I really seriously dislike the one I had, then I started hearing everyone else saying the new ones were even worse. Now that I've been playing around with it for a couple of days I can say I 100% agree that the Torch is worse than the Bold in terms of functionality and user-friendliness. It remains to be seem how the new one will do in terms of signal and dropping calls. Ahhh technology. The bottom line is that I am now officially having new device overload....new (work) Mac laptop, new iPad, new (work) Blackberry, and new-ish Droid phone. It's maddening going between the keyboard formats. I also have to say that while I have been a pretty loyal Apple enthusiast for the past couple of years, I am finding that I *gasp* actually really prefer the functionality of my Droid phone. I only got the Droid because I was due for an upgrade last last year and wasn't ready to give up Verizon. So there, I said it...I love my Droid. I love that the apps are free, and I love having actual menu buttons. I also really hate the iTunes software, but that's another story. :p

Ok ok, enough rambling about technology and back to more important things! The flight was fine and I'm settling in to the new place. It's a big BIG improvement over the last place, so much more comfortable and homey. I spent the evening getting settled in and picking up some groceries. I am here on my own for a couple of days since we are trying to balance caregiver time and minimize the amount of time both of us are away from the kids. I can handle the restaging part on my own, so there really wasn't much need for anyone to come down until the transplant gets under way. For that we agreed Alex should be here for the start, then my mom will rotate in, followed by my Dad. Once we know what to expect through the first one, it will make choosing and lining up caregivers for the second one easier.

It was hard to leave again especially knowing it's for a longer time this time around, but thanks to all the technology I was supposed to stop talking about I've got a new link to the kiddos. For some reason neither of them are much for talking on the phone so during there last trip I only talked to them a couple of times. They are already somewhat experienced in video chatting through Skype with the the scattered relatives, and that was usually more of a success than trying to get them to talk on the phone. The whole video chatting thing just got much easier thanks to my new fancy iPad and the new iPod touch we gave Olivia for her birthday. I set up Face Time on both of them and now she can call me whenever she wants at the touch of a couple of buttons and without needing another adult to wrangle the computer. We talked Thursday evening and it was great!

Yesterday I reported to the clinic at 9am to get started with the re-staging tests. The restaging tests will allow them to judge my response to the induction chemo and assess my general health to determine if I can start transplant. It started with a blood draw (only 11 vials this time). Then I met with a data manager to review some information, and she collected the medication diaries I had been required to keep on the days I was taking the Thalidomide and Dexamethasone (basically I just had to write down the dose and number of pills taken each day and report any side effects). After that I headed over for the bone marrow biopsy. I've had 5 of these already in the past few months. They aren't pleasant, but they aren't unbearable and the Fentanyl lollipops take the edge off...usually. Yesterday I made my tech work for the sample and I'm sorely paying the price today! It started off badly when the first position he chose to bore through the bone turned out to have been a spot that had been used before. He used the normal amount of pressure, but my bone was only partially healed (i.e. weaker) so it unexpectedly went right through...YOWCH! My leg kicked up in reflex and I joked he was lucky I didn't get him in the head as payback. He joked back he has learned how to quickly get out of the way. Once he got through in another spot and got the bone sample it was time for the aspiration. This is typically the painful part, when they do the pull a pain shoots down your leg. I was anticipating the pain and he prompted me when to take a deep breath, then...nothing. The good news was no pain, but the bad news was no sample either. So he then had to poke and bump around to reposition the needle to a spot that would give a sample. So after a few rounds of bumping around and bracing for the pull with no results he finally hit the payload. By the end I wished I had used the whole lollipop instead of only half!! After that it was off to the pulmonary function test and cardiac echo. These aren't part of the restaging, but more related to evaluating my general health (and are an insurance requirement before transplant). I had a break for a couple of hours before having to report back at 6 pm for the MRIs, which is definitely a fun and exciting way to spend a Friday evening!! It took about 2 hours total between two machines. I was a little uncomfortable by the end from laying on my back after the biopsy earlier so it was hard to keep still. I also forgot to take my rings off (they told me I didn't have to but I usually do) and I could feel them vibrating like crazy.

Now it's just a waiting game until Tuesday. Well, actually I take that back, I still have to collect a 24 hour urine sample and bring it in to the lab on Monday morning...it's so much fun saving all your pee in the fridge for 24 hours and lugging it around!! Other than that it's just a waiting game. So I'll be trying to enjoy the warm sunny weather and trying to relax a little and catch up on responding to messages.

I'm very anxious to meet with Dr. B on Tuesday to hear how things are looking. I know my light chain had started to go down after during induction, but I'm wondering how far down it went and whether it has started to rise again. I'm also wondering if the lesions will show any response on the MRIs.

And I'm also really looking forward to Alex flying in on Wednesday!!