I just have to add to today's blog....

We have had such positive feed back from the appointment with Prof Novitzky this evening.  He is very happy with the results of the first cycle of chemo and everything is running according to plan.  They took bloods in the clinic before we saw him so he explained that obviously he doesn't have these results yet, they will serve as the official blood results of the first cycle.  He has however seen the history of the bloods taken each day and he is happy.  Jimmy is still very anaemic and this is probably why he has been so tired over the last few days.

We discussed the constant backache that Jimmy still has and he said that he is not too keen to do radium treatment as there are too many side effects for the bone marrow.  He says that he can see a big improvement with Jimmy's back and we are only over the first cycle of chemo.  He suggested we hang in there till the end of the second cycle and re-evaluate then.

He has decided that all the chemo will be done intravenously for the way forward as well as the cortisone which means Jimmy doesn't have to swallow 40 tablets for breakfast each morning again.  He is also going to prescribe a calcium injection once a month.  At the stage we are still looking at 4 cycles of chemo and not the possible 6.  Jimmy has been complaining of numb/tingling sensations in his hands and Prof said that we must keep an eye on this.  We need to report any difference to the sister in the clinic each day before chemo and she will phone prof with this information before he gives the go-ahead for the chemo.  This is apparently a side effect of the Velcade (one of the chemo drugs), it causes inflammation of the nerve endings.  If it becomes a problem then they will slow the chemo treatments down to once a week instead of twice a week.

He also explained some more of the stem cell transplant;  once the chemo cycles are finished and Jimmy is in remission they will motivate to the medical aid for a stem cell transplant.  This takes 2 to 4 weeks.  The only time they wouldn't do the transplant is for clinical reasons like heart problems but Jimmy will constantly be evaluated throughout chemo and he is not expecting any problems like this.  The stem cell transplant process takes about 3 months. During this time they will remove his stem cells and freeze them.  He then gets a heavy dose of chemo to kill everything that is left and then they do the transplant.  He will be in hospital for a month in isolation.

The good news is that Prof says once he has had the stem cell transplant it will take Jimmy back 6 to 7 years.  To which I commented that I hope he won't be looking for a new wife!  You have to picture Prof Novitzky.  He is in his 60's, very tall and Polish and wears a big beige suite......he burst out laughing and in his thick polish accent and a wiggle of his index finger he said to me "you better watch out"!