New Plan for the Near Future

Today we met with Dr. Wolf and our "transplant coordinator" Lisa. Even though Kevin's cancer is considered "CR" which means complete remission they still want him to get more chemo before the stem cell harvest. Because of his cancer's aggressive nature & the fact that it could come back at any time they want to make sure they do everything they can to keep it away as long as possible.

We are scheduled to go back to Dr. Wolf's clinic January 21 for a major dose of Cytoxan. He's been getting 300mg, this will be more like 4000mg in one dose. After a few days (possibly a week) his blood counts will come back up and they will harvest his stem cells. They want a lot of them so they can do two "re-plants" in the next few months and one more which he hopefully won't need for ten or so years down the road. Each re-plant takes about a months time and then they are planning for two cycles of post re-plant PACe, which will also be about a month each.  We still have many months ahead of us but we are already months ahead of schedule thanks to our many blessing and miracles which have come about through your continued faith and prayers. Thank you all for sharing in this journey with us it certainly has been an adventure!

Hillary

More Than We Could Ask For

Today I was expecting to hear from UCSF about the next phase of Kevin's treatment which was to put him into remission with 'super chemo' and then start the stem cell process.  I waited patiently all day and near the end of it I received the call.  The news was not what we expected to hear.  All the results of last weeks day of lab work,  medical tests and the bone marrow biopsy done on Thursday are in! Guess what?  He's already in 'complete remission'!  All his results are 'phenomenal'!  Kidneys included! 

So, he doesn't need the two rounds of super chemo which was probably going to take another two months to do.  He's ready now to begin the stem cell process.  This Thursday we will be meeting in San Francisco with Dr. Wolf in his clinic to learn what exactly will happen next.  Kevin is scheduled to be back at UCSF as an out patient on the 25th for 1-5 days to harvest his stem cells and have them frozen.  Then he is scheduled to be admitted to the hospital at UCSF on February 8th to have the super chemo that kills everything good and bad to prepare him to receive his stem cells back.  They call it a transplant.  Hillary calls it a replant, since they are his own stem cells.  That's all we know now.  Things change so fast, but everything is going our way!

We give thanks to our Heavenly Father for His tender mercies and great love.  We give thanks to all of you for your tremendous prayers and love.  We have been so greatly blessed, we can't even begin to express adequate gratitude for all that we have been blessed with.  We have been blessed with great peace and the assurance that Heavenly Father is aware of us and all our concerns.  He has addressed each and every worry.  He blessed us with Michael Blackwell who made the diagnosis in record time, saving Kevin's life the first time.  He blessed us with our wonderful Dr. William Bonis here in Paso Robles.  Dr. Bonis got us to UCSF where they saved his life not once but two times and placed us in the capable hands of Myeloma experts, Dr. Wolf and Dr. Martin who took care of Kevin during his five week stay in there.  He blessed us with Kandee who has kept us at the Marriott during all our stays in SF.  He has kept a roof over our head and paid the bills through our friends, family, and even total strangers. We owe so many people.  All we can say is that we love you so much and we are truly grateful.

By the way, we were reminded that today is the fourth anniversary of the death of Kevin's father Lynn Richards.  Since his death we have been aware of his presence in the Richards' family's life still.  Every time Kevin is 'mostly dead' or comes out of one of his hallucinating periods, I always ask him, 'Have you seen your father lately?', hoping he would say he had just seen him and he gave him this or that advice.  That hasn't happened.  We choose to think of this coincidence as a sign that Grandpa has been near us and watching over us and celebrates with us today!

Our love to you all, Dale

Expected Delays

As you may have guessed we will NOT be going back to San Fransisco Monday.  The doctors are still waiting for test results and a lot of paperwork needs to be done before they will be ready to have us back.  The Doc's were getting a little ahead of themselves but hopefully they will have everything they need straightened out by the end of the week.  The new maybe day is Thursday or Friday. But that could always change too. We will let you know when we know.

Sometimes it is a little frustrating for Kevin to have his living quarters in our family room right off the kitchen. (especially because he likes to sleep in till 2pm on some occasions) It has also cut down on sitting space for the rest of us but at least it's easy to clean under...

It can get even higher!

While Dale & Hillary were at church this afternoon, President Scott and Kunz came to catch up. Then after curch we had a nice visit with Cody and TJ.

 

Kevin has been doing better and better since our last hospital visit. He's even getting around without his cane! We are glad that he is feeling so well before he gets "knocked out" by this next treatment. We are not sure how he will respond to the PACe treatment, all we know is that Kevin is one of a kind and so are his reactions!

Thank you for your continued prayers and support on our behalf, it is all working for his and our good daily.  Kevin got to talk with Dennis which  really made his day. Dennis is back in freezing Alaska and couldn't be happier. He had a wonderful Christmas with his children and grandchildren and has been feeling better mentally and physically since returning home. His counts have even started to come up which make him and his doctor happy :-)

Hillary

Check-Up

Today we had a check-up with Dr. Bonis who confirmed that the plan is for Kevin to go back to UCSF Monday or Tuesday to start his PACe treatment. He will receive 4 days of heavy duty chemo that will kill his immune system and take his long wavy locks. Then he will come back home with us to recoup for 3 or more weeks. During this time he will be on strict house arrest and not be able to have any visitors because he will be extremely susceptible to infection. Then he did a surprise bone marrow biopsy, we should find out the results next week while at UCSF. They just want to determine his starting off point before they start the next phase of treatment.

The doctors are planning to treat him with PACe twice before taking out his stem cells just to make sure they get as much of the cancer as possible.  He has made such great progress that everyone is extremely pleased. This is the beginning of another long haul back and forth between home and San Fransisco but we are excited to start the process!

Then the whole family had lunch at their favorite Mexican restaurant LoLo's. It was nice to see Destiny again (one of our favorite waitresses) but we missed Annette. It tasted fabulous and was just what the doctor ordered.

Kevin, Candice, Darrell, Dale & Destiny

After relaxing at home for the afternoon Kevin had a visit from his good friend Jay. They enjoyed catching up and laughing about old times. Unfortunately Hillary dropped the ball and forgot to get  a picture, sorry Jay.

(Hillary)

New Years to Now

New Years

Hillary went out with friends while...

Kevin put together the traditional new Years eve puzzle and it looks like him too!

 

Cari, Logan, and Maycee came for a visit on New Years day

After church on Sunday Doyle, Helen, and John came by too.

Monday afternoon Hillary drove Kevin and Dale to the Residence Inn in South San Fransisco (our new and lovely home away from home) This was the 1st time Kevin has been up in the car and not the back of an ambulance. He really enjoyed seeing things from our point of view. Monday morning started for us at 5am and went something like this...

Breakfast at the hotel, scarf.

8am Electrocardiogram at the hospital. An ultrasound of his heart which you can see on the screen

Then across the street to Dr. Wolf's clinic were everyone gets to wear these stylish masks.

 Meet with Adam (a Fellow from Poland) and the Wolf man

We had a nice meeting with Tiffany, the social worker for the transplant unit, who's adorable and helpful too

 

He got to put his favorite uniform back on for a pulmonary function screen.

Then a chest-xray/bone survey (where Kevin earned the patient of the day award) and then raced down the street to get an EKG.

All done FINALLY!!!! Exhausted but Happy to be done, now all that's left is the ride back home.

We stopped for dinner at Olive Garden and Kevin was excited to go to a  restaurant again.

We had a nice and slightly fast drive home (this is why Hillary drives).  Kevin crashed when we got home and slept A LOT after such a big day.

After sleeping in and probably a nap in the afternoon Al & Kathy came by to catch up.

(Hillary)