Bone Marrow Transplant

Think of  it as a clean slate. As clean as it can get.  Chemotherapy wipes out as much of the cancer as possible. It puts the patient in remission as far as their numbers on paper. But with multiple myeloma, because it is incurable, it will start growing and coming back in a very short period of time. So the chemo remission is followed by a bone marrow - now called a stem cell -  transplant. This is done by collecting a person's own cells to give them back (stem cell collection). They are then hospitalized and given a mega dose of chemotherapy to kill off their remaining cells to get rid of the rest of the cancer cells, but the good cells go too.  So they are sick and weak for a few weeks.




Stem Cell Collection


The week before they collect the cells, I inject Scott every morning with a medication (Neupogen)  that makes his body produce lots of healthy cells very quickly for collection. Along with that, a brand-new medication, aptly named Mozobil, is now available that I inject him with at night that helps mobilize those cells so they move out of the bones more easily so by morning there are more to collect.  We were told this drug was very expensive and he only gets one injection each night before stem cell collection. If they collect enough cells the first day, he only needs it one night. When he picks it up from the pharmacy and pays our co-pay, he shows me what it would have cost - for four tiny little vials that we may only need one of.


GOAL: They need to collect 10 million cells for the transplant within 4 days. If they can get them all in the first day, he doesn't have to go back.  When he did this the first time in 2007, he got all 10 million the first day. We are so hoping it will be the same, but with the damage caused by the recurrence of the cancer and being five years older, they say he probably won't get enough in one day.


Day 1 Stem Cell Collection (Medical term - Apheresis). I give 2 shots Neupogen at 7:00 am. Scott goes in for Apheresis. 


To collect the cells, they hook Scott up to a huge machine similar to a kidney dialysis machine through the catheter in his chest  They cycle all the blood in his body through the machine a total of 4 times over a 6-hour period, giving him fluids, calcium supplements, checking his blood counts, etc. throughout the day to make sure everything is normal because along with the stem cells they collect, he loses some nutrients in the blood they have to put back in.  He comes home, rests and waits for the phone call to see if they got enough cells.  7:00 PM the phone rings. 


VERDICT:  1.7 million cells. 


That sounds amazing, but not even close. He knows he has to go back the next day.  9:00 pm, exactly 12 hours as directed, before apheresis,  I give him the $$$$ Mozobil shot that night and pray tomorrow will be the last day for him.

 

Reyne Family Journey

Welcome to the Reyne Family's journey.  As we head into 2014, we are gearing up for a year of treatment to combat and hopefully halt the destructive effects of Multiple Myeloma (MM), cancer of the plasma cells which are found in the bone marrow, causing tumors and eventually fractures usually in the pelvis, spine, ribs and skull. Multiple myeloma is incurable, but treatable.

Scott Reyne, our beloved husband, father, brother and friend was diagnosed with MM in February 2007 while living in Gilbert, Arizona after finding a large tumor and compression fracture on his spine  at the  L4/L5 vertebra.  After radiation and chemotherapy, he underwent an autologous (his own cells) stem cell transplant (formerly called a bone marrow transplant).  This was very successful and he was in complete remission until December 2012. The cancer returned stronger and more aggressive in 2013. After trying two different chemotherapy drugs, it was determined the best option was another stem cell transplant, only this time they are going to do a double transplant; an autologous transplant followed about three months later by an allogeneic (donor stem cells) transplant. This is a more difficult procedure for the patient to undergo, i.e., a longer recovery time, more potential complications, but it can increase survival by many, many years.

This blog is being written so those who would like to follow Scott's progress can, and so our two children who are serving missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the New York, Utica mission and the Birmingham, Alabama mission who will not be here with us this year can know how things are going with their dad.  Their faith in choosing to serve a mission at this time knowing that their dad was going to face these trials has deepened our faith and strengthened our testimony in our Savior Jesus Christ who is the source of all peace and comfort.

As the doctors have said, this treatment option is not for the faint of heart. But we are not faint-hearted. We are strong, we are full of faith and we know from where our strength comes. We are blessed to have each other and we will make it through this. We may be fighting Multiple Myeloma, but, like the blog title says, this year it's "Multiple Bye-eloma!"