Decisions Decisions

Since Tuesday's meeting with Dr. Shrier at Stanford I have been tossing the decision of stem cell transplant in my head. I keep asking the question is this the right thing to do now or wait? I don't have a crystal ball and don't know how effective the chemo treatments will be. I emailed my heart transplant doctor, Dr. Dana Weisshaar at Kaiser regarding my decision and asked her for her opinion. She wrote back to say that she is not an expert on AL Amyloidosis and depends on the expert Dr. Shrier at Stanford. Dr. Dana feels that there must be a good reason why Dr. Shrier recommended stem cell transplant in February or March and wanted me to be sure I understood his reason. If he agreed to wait and honor my decision to give the chemo treatments a chance, then Dr. Dana is ok with that. Her main goal is to keep my shared heart working and protect it anyway possible. Good news is that there are no amyloid deposits in my new shared heart at this time and we want to keep it that way. Dr. Dana will check the heart every 3 months for amyloid deposits. So at this point, my decision is to complete the first round of Valcade, which will be in 3 weeks, and check lamba light chain number and make a decision. If the number has gone up drastically, then the decision is clear to schedule a stem cell transplant. If the number is lower and we see some progress then I will proceed with a second course of Valcade for 4 weeks and check numbers again. So at this point, it is a wait and see decision.


I slept good last night after being up since 2:00AM and feel rested. I have my chemo infusion appointment at 2:30PM, which won't take too long. Mom is picking me up after to go to Walmart for a few things. I learned how to burn CDs and made her 5 CDs last night. There are so many great songs on them, of course country like Toby Keith, Brooks and Dunn, Kenny Cesney but also some Italian artists, Celine Dion, the Supremes and the Four Seasons. It brings back memories when I listen to the Four Seasons and think about the time I took Mom, Auntie Mary Joan and Erin to see the musical Jersey Boys. We had so much fun! I took them to dinner in Sausalito to Angelino's and then to the Four Seasons where the hotel car gave us a ride to the theatre. We watched and sang (Auntie and Mom were dancing and singing in their seats). It was a wonderful memory I will hold in my heart forever! That is what moments are made of. I want lots more of those moments in time!


Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy every moment in time!


Love,
Debbie