Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
That’s the generic hello above. I thought it was nice, so I kept it. My dad’s journey began back in April. He was at a routine check up when his primary care doctor noticed his kidney values were higher than normal. She told Morgan we needed to keep an eye on them so she rechecked them several times. Once she realized the labs weren’t getting better but worse, she referred Morgan to a nephrologist, or kidney specialist. The nephrologist looked at the basic labs and ordered a ton more and then a kidney biopsy. Once those results came back, she told us the news. Morgan has something called Kappa Light Chain Myeloma. Not a common form. She then immediately refered him to an oncologist. The oncologist did a bone marrow biopsy (not fun) and agreed with the diagnosis, and also gave us more information about the type of myeloma. It is agressive. And even if the chemo treatments work and beat back the mutated plasma cells (what myeloma is) and he’s able to have a successful bone marrow transplant, the cancer will come back. He will need to have some form of treatment for maintenance. This is not the greatest of news.
So Morgan started chemo, it’s called Velcade, along with a steroid called decadron and another med called Revlimid. He also has a PET scan, which shows lesions in in right scapula, his neck, his right and left hip and his right femur. He has a slight cord compression because of this in his neck, which is causing pain down his arms and difficulty grabbing things. This is really frustrating for Morgan, as you can imagine. All the different drugs he’s been taking are wreaking havoc with his system, and the cancer has been causing quite a bit of pain. We won’t get into the down and dirty, but let’s just say it hasn’t been pleasant.
We met with the nephrologist again this week. She’d continued to follow his lab values. And the kidney function is much worse now. Morgan has to start dialysis. We chose peritoneal dialysis. It’s much less invasive, easier on the kidneys and the body in general. And added bonus, it can be done at home, at night while he’s sleeping. There will of course be a transition time while Morgan and Jan learn how to manage it, but hopefully this will give his kidneys the time to recover while the chemo is kicking the cancer’s butt, and he can potentially come off the dialysis in time.
This has all happened in the span of a month. It has been a roller coaster of emotions. So many people have reached out to tell us how much they care, and it is amazing. Any and all prayers are so appreciated. We cannot do this alone, and we know we aren’t alone.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. We love you all.
Love and blessings,
Morgan and Jan, Christian and Melissa, Mary Beth and Dan. And all the kids.
P.s. if you would like to help, the gofundme page is the best way. If you’re in Sarasota, stopping by to say hello would be greatly appreciated.
https://www.gofundme.com/pastormorganmedford 
