The photo on the left was taken at 2 PM today. The one on the right at 3:30 PM. The indwelling tunnel catheter is gone forever. No more dialysis. No words can explain what this means.

In just 72 hours, I face a huge landmark. I have orders from the department of nephrology at the University of Washington to have the tunnel catheter (which goes into my Vena Cava) removed. I can remember that scary and confusing night on January 17th when it was put in. We had no clue as…

It appears that I have pseudo-Host Vs Graft Syndrome. For patients like me, who received their own stem cells, this problem, while with severe symptoms, is usually easily treated. The team reached this conclusion by all the other test being negative and how profoundly I’ve responded to three days of high dose steroids. So, I…

I’m not too surprised, but it looks like my discharge will be delayed by one week. While we have gone stir-crazy living in downtown Seattle, I certainly don’t want to go home feeling as bad as I do. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of this ASAP.  Mike

The cancer family of diseases are nasty, very nasty. The word “family” doesn’t seem appropriate here. While I’m grateful for all the new treatments for cancer, which we didn’t have just a few years ago, we must find a more humane way of treating this terrible disease. We need treatments and cures that are beyond…

I wanted to take a minute to say that I am deeply grateful for all the support that I (and Denise) have received over the past few months. I have read every comment here, every e-mail, every post card that came via US post. I am so far behind in the showing of gratitude, that…

My poor tablet sits, alone on the window sill. Each day it seems to be saying, “remember me?” I honestly can’t remember ignoring my tablet and it’s portal to the online world the way I have in the past two weeks. It has literally collected dust. I picked it up today with the sole intent…

My stem cell transplant (SCT) was June 13th so now I am officially SCT + 17. I was discharged from the University of Washington almost 48 hours ago. I had a out-patient follow up visit yesterday. I am happy to say, as I was reminded during my visit yesterday, my course has been “uneventful.” In other…

I can now, fully appreciate those Multiple Myeloma patients who have chosen to die rather enter than this arduous process. I am coming out of ten days of the most suffering I’ve ever endured. It is like they have to take you to the edge of death, in order to save you. There members of…

In review, I had Melphalan (strong chemotherapy) on June 9-10. Then my stem cells were re infused on the 12th and 13th. Typically, this means that this week and next are the hardest. Everything is going according to the plan. That doesn’t make me feel any better as I feel bad, very bad. I’ve had…