Suzie and I are back home in Kensington and settling in after a lot of packing (mostly Suzie) and unpacking (same). It’s a glorious day here (75 and sunny) and we celebrated our return with a lunch at Barney’s on Solano with Suzie’s dad Paul, burger and fries while sitting outside.
Yesterday we had a meeting with my Stanford doctor, and she had more good news. The results of the bone marrow biopsy showed there were no myeloma cells present. She said I had a “complete response” to the treatment and that it “couldn’t have gone any better.” She seemed genuinely pleased and a bit surprised at how well it had worked for me.
Now the truth is that myeloma never goes away completely, unlike some cancers. There’s always a tiny bit remaining after treatment, and in the next week or so I’ll get the result of a “Minimal Residual Disease” test that will show exactly how many (or better, how few) of the cancer cells remain, down to a one-in-a-million sensitivity level. The fewer cancer cells remaining, the longer the remission period, at least in principle.
My Stanford doctor said that this new treatment had the potential to revolutionize the treatment of multiple myeloma, and that I should be proud to have been one of the trailblazers who made it possible. Which I am. I’m grateful to her because she’s the one who suggested that I participate in the trial in the first place, and worked to make sure that I met the trial’s criteria.
So that’s a wrap on this latest treatment. There’s still a way to go — both the myeloma and the treatment beat down my bone marrow, and so my immune system will take a while to recover. It will be a while before my energy level is back to normal, and it sucks to feel run down. But I’m 500% better than I was before. Again, thanks to everyone for being so supportive. Thanks, too, to my son Andrew, who watched Sparky during the month we were in Palo Alto. But most of all, thanks to Suzie … I don’t know what I’d do without her.
Finally, a picture of the person who was the most happy to see me again.
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Your journey has been so uplifting, Steve. I am so happy for you, Suzie, the boys and of course Mr. Spark. Keep it up, my friend!
Oh Steve that’s the best news! How wonderful.