Wayne Graff

Early summer 2016 I wasn't feeling normal. Always had low grade headaches, sniffles, feeling tired and then too had jammed my back so nothing was going right. Later on my back got better but the rest just got a little worse. I thought I might have allergy's and then in then fall I was figuring maybe the flu. By that time my urine habits change too as I was going to the bathroom a lot. I had an annual physical coming up in November so I was drinking Nyquil at night and when that did nothing I began taking liquid Corriscedrin. That did nothing too. On November 16 I went to see Dr. Juhl and she knew right away something wasn't adding up to good health. She brought me back in 2 weeks for more tests and the on Dec. 14 brought me back again. On  Dec. 15th she put me on a 24 hr. urine test and then on Dec. 17th she called me at home and told me to check myself into the hospital as my kidneys were shutting down. I spent 5 days on I-Vs and knowing then what was going on she turned me over to Dr. Gitau an oncologist at Roger Maris Cancer Center. After the results came from Mayo it was confirmed that I had Multiple Myeloma. Nothing I did, he said, but I just woke up with cancer.
Right away they began a Chemo program. Taking both Velcade and Revlimid, 14 days on and 7 days off up until April 21st of this year. 5 rounds of chemo with the 6th being a maintenance round just taking me up to a date to get me into Mayo Methodist in-order to have a Stem Cell Transplant. There is no cure for this but with a transplant and then a maintenance program to follow I will be back on the golf course again. For how long who knows but he said that in the last 10 years they have made great strides in understanding cancer movements and how it interacts with other cells and he said in the next 5-10 years they'll learn even more. He also mentioned that in my case they are treating this disease from the front side rather than trying to play catch up from the back. I've never been given a death sentence and he said he has patients who are 10 years out from a transplant and living a productive life. Their goal here at Mayo is to get me into remission and then I'll go on a light chemo maintenance program after that as there is no cure for this as of now.
Today, April 27th, I have begun the process of transplantation beginning with booster shots for 4 days, then 5 days of extractions, 2 days of chemo and then the process of putting things back together. It will be a long process.  My doctor here, Dr. Lacy said I could be out in 6 weeks but plan on 8-10 weeks. We'll see! Then a 60 recovery followed by coming back for tests then later on to determine the maintenance program. Even if or when I get into remission its not if it comes back but when. So I'll learn to live with this. Productively! In the meantime, retirement is wonderful! Looking forward to fall.








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