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After 2 ½ weeks home, I returned to Arkansas for more fun. Upon arrival, they drew labs and checked my numbers. After VDT-PACE and 2 weeks home, my numbers had started INCREASING again. This was not a good sign. The doctor was also taken aback. The expectation was that the numbers would continue to fall…
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The day I returned home was September 27th, three days after Hayden’s first birthday, which I was very sad to have missed. We were going to do her little birthday party with her smash cake first thing but my head hurt so badly from all the hair still clinging to it. I never expected it…
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I spent about a week in the ICU before being moved to the cancer floor to recover further. I remember feeling so, so relieved to be out of the ICU. In the ICU, I had so many lines coming out of everywhere that I couldn’t sleep. I had to use the bathroom under supervision right…
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They set me up for the induction chemo by sending me to the operating room to get a central line put in. This was an interesting little procedure. I was awake the whole time. They numb the area with lidocaine and make an incision at the top of your chest. They insert a line that…
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Somehow, UAMS worked it out with my insurance to come out and get treatment there. They called me on a Friday and told me they wanted me there on a Monday. My parents watched the girls, Chris closed down the shop for the following week, and we headed out the very next day. Due to…
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It was day ? of depression and despair. The days blurred together. “I have a terminal cancer. I am going to die” became the soundtrack to my life. The constant thought of death played over and over. It was the first thing I thought of when I woke up in the morning. It was the…
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Imagine being told you would be dying in a couple years. The only analogy I can compare it to is somebody holding a gun to your head. You can’t think about anything else. You can’t function. You are in a state of constant panic. This was now the pinnacle of my devastation. I began to…
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It was my second meeting with Moffitt. My genetic testing was back. I had 1q gain, 1p loss, and 13 deletion. If you have any one of the genetic abnormalities, you are categorized as high risk. I had 3. Only 15% of all myeloma patients are high risk at diagnosis. Guess what? I fell into…
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I set up an appointment with Moffitt. It was the day after Charlotte’s 5th birthday. This would be my initial diagnosis appointment. The only hope I was still holding onto was that maybe it was smoldering multiple myeloma which is much easier to control and comes with a much longer life expectancy. The day of…
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Multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell (a plasma cell). It is a blood cancer but also commonly called a bone marrow cancer. The cancer cells build up in the marrow and crowd out healthy cells. The most common attributes are bone damage, a weakened immune system, kidney…
Torney Tough 