A Caregiver's Inspirational Journey Through Cancer
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Johnson & Johnson, Misc, Multiple Myeloma, Tecvayli (teclistamab-cqvy) on Nov 11th, 2022
“We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. I won’t lie to you…this is the kind of post I hate doing. In addition to our disappointment, I feel the frustration of all who care about us and are traveling this journey alongside us. Dave went out of remission almost […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Nov 27th, 2021
“The purpose of life is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson It’s hard to believe that we are winding down our journey here in Little Rock at UAMS, Myeloma Institute! From all appearances in our […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Nov 26th, 2021
“Be thankful for everything that happens in your life; it’s all an experience.” – Roy T. Bennett What a lovely and yet another unexpected gift as we are here for such a long Arkansas stay! We had a Thanksgiving invite to Memphis with friends of my family I hadn’t seen in over three decades. But […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Nov 20th, 2021
“The article discusses infection risk for the hematological malignancies for all the illnesses listed in the first paragraph but, somewhat unfortunately, to a lesser extent for MM considering the very limited patient experiences with the anti-BCMA products. Still, a number of observations and conclusions are very relevant for us, myeloma patients.”… A topical article over […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Nov 19th, 2021
“Lymphodepletion before CAR T-cell therapy effectively prolongs the persistence of infused cells and increases the effectiveness of the treatment of tumors. Fludarabine is a critical component of a lymphodepletion regimen and greatly contributes to the efficacy of the procedure.”… Ok, today is a little technical stuff for those of you interested and perhaps considering Car […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Nov 17th, 2021
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Soren Kierkegaard Looking back is an interesting mental exercise in being liberated and going forward with more understanding, purpose, and confidence. At least that’s been my experience. Being STUCK in the past is nowhere I want to be. Second-guessing decisions is not […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Nov 12th, 2021
Grit, /grit/ noun, strength of character; perseverance, and passion for long-term goals. Dave didn’t need any support today. Everything is recovering nicely. But nothing was sweeter than getting this lab result today! The handwritten number is what they did before we headed into the Abecma Car T. We are on Day 11 post T Cell […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Nov 12th, 2021
“Looking at our old friends is all the therapy that we need in tiredness.” Unknown Popping around in Infusion B the other day, meeting up with the other two Car T patients, I spotted Jean Ann the same time she spotted me, getting her husband Bart settled into a room. We met at our new […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Nov 10th, 2021
“Be strong enough to face the world each day. Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything alone.” – Author Unknown It’s so much EASIER when you share an arduous journey with others who are in your boat. I’ve often written about the whole “misery loves company” saying. What does it mean exactly? I […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Kids, Misc, Multiple Myeloma, Our Life on Oct 20th, 2021
“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” –Vince Lombardi Dave continues to improve daily with his femur fracture. His PT person is pushing him within reason and chats about the why and what of it. She’s very encouraging. Today she said when he said he wasn’t doing 30 of each exercise, “If you were doing […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Caregiver Tips, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Oct 15th, 2021
“The greatest wealth is Health.” – Unknown One of many challenges we face in any cancer journey is how to better our odds to overcome the disease, survive the toxic chemos needed to push the cancer into remission or cure it. And then, how do you restore your schnockered immune system. Many myeloma cancer patients […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Misc, Multiple Myeloma, Our Life on Oct 13th, 2021
“Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success.” ― Oscar Wilde Years ago, when I wrote my opinion piece at The Myeloma Beacon on our incredible success with HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy), it garnered considerable attention from those in that world. It […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Kids, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Oct 11th, 2021
“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart There will probably be a lot of “MishMash Musings” in the coming weeks leading up to Dave beginning his Abecma Car T Therapy, currently scheduled for Halloween. Perfect if […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma, Our Life on Oct 2nd, 2021
“You’re always on your way somewhere. The key is: find a way to be happy wherever you now are on your way to where you really want to be. (We’re speaking of the state of being you want.) It does not matter where you are; where you are is shifting constantly – but you must […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Oct 1st, 2021
“Sometimes, the best way to help someone is to just be near them.” – Veronica Roth, Divergent Today I witnessed one of those moments between another couple in the throws of the journey of Myelomaville. My assessment was they are at the beginning of their journey, and I so wanted to go over and say, […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Sep 29th, 2021
Acknowledge simple gifts. There are gifts all around us. I’m an old-fashioned road trip kinda gal, so I ordered an Adventure Edition of a road atlas and a full fold-out paper map of the USA for our road trip home. I’ve already put in several stops and come up with about nine days. Dave has […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Sep 26th, 2021
“Gratitude is happiness doubled by words.” – G.K. Chesterton There is a comfort in routine and things predictable when dealing with our Myeloma crisis. Knowing when we need to go into the clinic and knowing we can just chill until we do. Today I ran to the Vitamin Shoppe in N Little Rock. Then back […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Sep 23rd, 2021
“Medical science has proven time and again that when the resources are provided, great progress in the treatment, cure, and prevention of disease can occur.” – Michael J. Fox So in an effort to learn more about all of this, when I get the chance I ask a few questions of our doctor while we […]
Posted in Abecma Car T, Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, MM Chrono Journey, Multiple Myeloma on Sep 23rd, 2021
“Turn off the news and get out in the world. It is full of wonderfulness and humanity.” – Lori Puente What a whirlwind this particular episode in our reluctant Myelomaville adventures. Our original plan was that Dave would come out and get his T Cells collected on September 13th. (Well really mid-August, but the pharma […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Sep 20th, 2021
“How important is it?” This is one of the questions I’ve learned over my life that is worth asking. Many times I would have written a letter and ventured off into phone calls and wasted precious time setting them straight and taken my time and energy away from what Dave and I were dealing with. […]
