Welcome to our CaringBridge website - it will help keep family friends updated in one place. We so appreciate your words of encouragement, your prayers and your support.
For those of you who may not know, this summer we began a journey that we would have never chosen. Don went to the ER on July 1 feeling very weak and knowing that he was in need of a blood transfusion, due to anemia that he had been battling for several years. His hemoglobin had reached an all-time low of 3.9 (should be 13-18) and he required 4 units of blood. He had also been suffering from back pain for several months and that in combination with the low blood levels raised a red flag. Additional tests were ordered and surgery was scheduled for July 3 to deal with the source of some bleeding. After this surgery his back pain was unbearable and he was readmitted on July 7 to wait (six days before they could get him in) for surgery (kyphoplasty) on three compression fractures. Because of some of his blood-work results they also did a bone marrow biopsy during his surgery. After two weeks in the hospital he was finally able to come home feeling much better with manageable back pain.When the results from the biopsy came back weeks later it was confirmed that Don had Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. He has been undergoing radiation; chemotherapy; iron transfusions and Zometa which is an infusion that will help strengthen his bones, since one major symptom of Multiple Myeloma is the weakening of the bones. He has also had a second back surgery to repair 4 more fractured vertebras.
The chemo seems to be working and we have met with a bone marrow/stem cell transplant team to pursue that option.
This will be a long battle and we are leaning on our faith and your prayers to get us through. Continue to lift Don up and we will do our best to keep you updated on his progress. Please click the "follow" button on this page if you would like to get an email notification of any updates - or just check back on this site.
