In case any friends are still reading this and don’t already know, my dad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (cancer of the bone marrow) in early July. It’s not curable, and fairly advanced, but remission is still possible, so that’s what we’re hoping for, as he started chemo this month.

I went home (solo) July 15-24 so I could be there when the chemo started. It was a good time to be home, because Mom and Grace really needed support and help. Dad got really weak after his bone marrow biopsy, and he even fell once. So the same day as the meeting with the oncologist (July 19) and the first chemo dose, we also checked him into Tampa General Hospital, because he needed more help than we could provide at home.

It turned out to be a good move; he needed a lot more attention (MRIs of bone lesions, radiation therapy on the big bone lesion in his hip, kidney function inspection, etc.), and the staff at TGH have been super.

This past week we had a bad scare, because a high protein count in his spinal fluid seemed to indicate that the cancer had spread to there, which meant it would soon be in his brain. Turns out it likely has not spread there, and additional chemo is attempting to prevent that.

Dad is still at Tampa General; we’re not sue how much longer he’ll be there. He does seem to be getting stronger, and chemo so far has not been the nightmare I imagined. We’re still quote hopeful that getting to remission is possible.