Snowberger

Tonight, July 8th, was our support group meeting.  Had a remote speaker from Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.  Benn and his son coordinated the speaker and the bluetooth equipment.  Did a great job.  Benn now thinks he could be a game show host. That's Benn!!!  At our last support group meeting, I invited another Myeloma patient I met at UF Health Cancer Center previously.  Barb.  She was very energetic and bubbly.  Just had her bone marrow transplant about 3 months ago.  Today she IM'd me that her MRI showed something suspicious on her head.  They had Barb go immediately to ORMC (Orlando Regional Medical Center) hospital for observation and possible biopsy.  I will know more hopefully tomorrow.  Good luck and lots of prayers sent your way Barb.

Last I posted was June 28th.  Several things have happened since then.  I finished all the Panobinostat.  But when it came time for my Kyprolis,  July 2nd & 3rd, I was not able to have these  treatments because my platelets were down to 25.  Had a few other side effects too.

Next since I posted last, I had an appointment with the neurosurgeon, Dr. Garcia, scheduled for July 5th at 9 AM.  I received a call from Dr. Garcia, personally,  asking me if I could come in at 7 AM instead of 9.  What??  I asked him what were my alternatives?  I could wait until Thursday, July 11th for his next available appointment.  I knew having to wait almost another week was not what I wanted to do.  Took the 7 AM appointment.  His office manager, Diane, met us there at 7 AM, Friday, July 5th, gathered all the the paperwork, made coffee (for Bill?), and put us in an exam room to wait for Dr. Garcia.  Dr. Garcia came in, introduced himself and gathered info via conversation with Bill and me.  He pulled up my MRI brain scan and we discussed my options with him.  He also did an exam of me and the tumor (plasmacytoma) on my head.  Dr. Garcia spent at least 40-45 minutes with us.  His recommendation was to have the tumor removed as it continues to grow and have it removed sooner than later.  The surgery would be followed by radiation several weeks after the skull has healed.  Surgery would about 3 to 4 hours.  There will be a piece of mesh titanium placed in the skull. I would be in intensive care for probably just a day, then 2 to 3 days in the hospital.  He left us saying think it over and get back to them Monday or Tuesday of this week.

This was one of the options that Dr. Roy from Mayo had recommended.  One of the options we had discussed with Dr. Sarriera.  Bill and I discussed all this and came to the conclusion this was the best way to go.  The chemo meds are making my platelets drop, I have several side effects from them and they are not shrinking my tumor because I can't stay on them long enough to see if they can shrink the tumor.  Radiation only, one of the other options, is localized and only covers a certain area.  Last time I had radiation, a small tumor popped up that was not in the radiation field.  This happened during the very last radiation treatment.

After many phone calls and much ado, I am penciled in to have surgery on July 29th.  Penciled because I have to get a medical clearance from our primary care physician, get insurance approvals etc.  I have an appointment with our PCP (primary care physician) on July 15th for an EKG and labs.  Then an appointment to see Dr. Young, our PCP, on July 19th.  Also, I have an appointment to see Dr. Sarriera on July 18th.  Phew!!!  But as of now, I am not going to take any chemo drugs, infusions, etc. Waiting to hear from Dr. Sarriera about this.  This is a decision I made to help prepare for surgery.  Need to get those platelets back up.

One of the papers I had to fill out asked for two persons the surgical group would be allowed to give information on me if they requested it from whatever reason.  The first name I put down was Kathy Snowberger.  Huh? That's me.  The second name I put down was Kristine Snowberger.  Huh?  She's been married for how long now?  Okay.  It was 7 AM in the morning the day after the 4th.  These fireworks around here go on forever.  Just asked Sandy and Denny.

Quote:

Cancer is a reminder that life is really precious.