Richard Rosen

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.


As most of you know by now, last August I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.  It is a form of Leukemia that affects the Bone Marrow.  Since that time I have been receiving regular Chemotherapy treatments.  This has greatly reduced the extent of the cancer.  


To hopefully push the disease into remission, over the next weeks/months I'm going to have a Stem Cell Transplant.  With the transplant, we are going to harvest my own stem cells, then use a very large dose or Chemo to kill off the remaining cancer, then re-inject the stem cells back into my system. The hope/expectation is that once the cancer is eradicated, the stem cells will produce non-cancerous cells.  This will allow my body to return to a more normal state.


The transplant process will take several weeks.  Part of the time will be Outpatient and several weeks will be In-patient.  After that time, I will be home recovering for a month or more.


Initially I will be very weak, as the Chemo will kill off most of my "good" cells as well as the cancer.  Most notably it will kill off virtually all of my While Blood Cells making me very susceptible to infection.  


While I will be weak and may not feel well, I will be able to have visitors while in the Hospital and while I am home.


I must add that none of this would be possible without my wife, Jean, acting as my "caregiver".  So, a big THANK YOU to her for being there for me the past year and into this new phase of my treatment.


Treatment will be at the University of Maryland Medial Center in Baltimore.


As we have more details on exact dates that I will be in the Hospital and then at home we will keep you informed.