Some changes

     Sorry for not posting any news for quite a while. To be honest there was nothing new to post. Well that has changed in a big way. Gennie has been doing and feeling great. She has had three series of Vidaza and we thought all was going well. After her second series we went to MCV for another biopsy. This past Tuesday we got a phone call from Judy our coordinator at MCV. She told us that the Vidaza was not working and Dr. McCarty wanted to see us Friday. OK this only induced slight panic and we started reading all we could find about what may be next. Gennie asked Judy what she thought Dr. McCarty was going to suggest. She said he would probably want to move on to induction chemo and then straight onto transplant. More panic. We finally decided to just relax and wait for our meeting.

     Dr. McCarty does in fact want to move to induction chemo. He has suggested a treatment known as FLAG. This is a combination of Chemo drugs giving in the hospital in a six day period. This is intended to sort of hit the disease hard and beat it into remission. The better the remission she is in the better the chances her transplant will result in a long term or permanent remission. We have scheduled this procedure to begin on either Dec. 27 or 28th. Gennie will be in the hospital (MCV) for a minimum of four weeks and longer in needed. The first seven days will be the actual treatment and the balance is recovery time. Ten days after treatment they will do another biopsy to see if her marrow is responding the way they want. If not another dose may be done, this would add time to the stay. Hopefully it will work correctly and she will just have to recover. Once recovered she will be able to come home for a few weeks. During this time we will be going to Richmond frequently for pre-transplant testing. Her brother will also be tested at this time. If all goes well we are looking at the end of Feb or the beginning of March for transplant. This procedure will be another four to six weeks in the hospital. Once the new cells begin to engraft and she is doing well we will then move to a place to live in the Richmond area for about six months.
     When we get to MCV I will let everyone know her address. The best way to contact her will be e-mail (deadogdottie@yahoo.com) she may not get back to you at first but I know she would like to hear form everyone. She will be allowed to have visitors. The only requirement is that they are healthy. It would be best to wait for a couple of weeks as she will probably not be feeling to well at first. I will let folks know when she is ready for guest.
     A very sad part of the timing is that Gennie will not be able to attend the ceremony for my Dad at Arlington Cemetery on Jan. 17. That is the day my Dad will be reunited with my Mom. Family will be coming from all over the country and my Nephew Robert, an army chaplain, will be performing the ceremony. Since Dad was Army Air Corp both the Army and Air Force will take part in the service. I will attend with my family. Gennie will be there in spirit.
     Like I said in the title, changes. We knew when we started this changes were going to happen. This is just one of what will probably be many. They are frightening but necessary. If one treatment is not working there is no need to continue it. I am just thankful there is another to try. Dr. McCarty did not seem to concerned with the change. He stated that we tried Vidaza first because it is a bit more comfortable on the patient. Well there is nothing easy with Gennie. So on the the next treatment.
     I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah season. We are looking forward to ours. We will be here in Poquoson with our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. We will be wishing we could be with our son, daughter-in-law and grandson also but I am sure we will be face timing with them.
Bob