The Beginning

It's Probably Just a Virus

"It's only a virus," is what we kept thinking and hearing over the past few weeks.  By this time, Matt hadn't been feeling very well for 2.5 weeks.  He had suffered from fatigue, sleepiness, and some nausea.  He hadn't drank coffee in over 2 weeks and eating ice cream was out of the question.  After 2 weeks of this "virus" Matt decided to make an appointment with his primary care doctor on Tuesday, August 11th.  They decided to draw some blood and take a urine sample and scheduled a follow up appointment two days later.  When he went in for the follow up appointment they informed him that his kidneys were essentially failing and were only functioning at 10-12%.  They immediately directed him to a nephrologist who scheduled a kidney biopsy for the following Monday.

Fast forward a day and his symptoms of fatigue and sleepiness worsened to the point that a 2 hour nap was absolutely mandatory yet he still couldn't gain enough energy to play with Henry before dinner.  After we put the kids down Matt began to feel some chest pain so after consulting with his nephrologist, Dr. Ogb (not to be confused with ODB, who's opinion wouldn't really be applicable), he decided to head in to the ER.  Upon arrival they drew his blood and found that his anemia had worsened and his kidney function decreased even more.  His creatinine levels were above a 6.  For those of you who don't know kidneys and blood like we now do, that means basically that there were protein chains clogging in his kidneys.  A normal functioning kidney produces creatinine levels around 1.  Matt's hemoglobin (iron in his blood) was down to a 6.9.  A healthy, non-anemic person has a hemoglobin level of 12-15.  So immediately they decided to do a blood transfusion to raise his levels up to a safe number.  

They continued to monitor Matt's numbers over the next 24 hours so that they could still perform the kidney biopsy that following Monday.  By Saturday evening the numbers had dropped once again to 5.9 and they immediately did two more blood transfusions early Sunday morning.  By this time the doctors were boggled at what this could be and the nephrologist was taking the lead on what medications to give him and when.  At this time they decided to bring a hematologist on board to consult.  The hematologist ordered a bone marrow biopsy as well for Tuesday.  By Sunday afternoon Matt began having pain in his back, near his kidneys and the doctors were concerned about internal bleeding.  They ordered a full body CT scan and a full body X-ray (literally every bone from hip to head was examined through x-ray).  

Sunday night Matt was feeling slightly better and was preparing for the next day when they would begin the kidney biopsy and hopefully get this all figured out.  However, the doctors waited until my arrival around 8:00pm to bring in the findings of the CT scan and X-ray.  What they found were something called lytic lesions on Matt's bones, near his abdominal region.  What the doctors told us were that these lesions, combined with the high amounts of proteins in Matt's blood, pointed to something called Multiple Myeloma, a type of cancer of the blood.  

I'm not even going to try and explain the reaction we felt when we heard the news because there is no way I can put that type of emotion in to words.  All we knew was that this was most likely cancer but we would have to wait for the biopsy of both the kidney and the bone marrow to receive a final confirmation.  

Monday - Biopsy Day

After the results of the CT scan and X-rays they moved Matt's bone marrow biopsy up to Monday so they could get the results sooner.  So Monday began by Matt undergoing the kidney biopsy, followed by the bone marrow biopsy.  He can speak to this process as I was not allowed to be present for either of the procedures.  However, based on Matt's face and physical reaction it may have been one of the most painful things he had ever lived through.  To say his body was pissed would be an understatement and he spent the better half of the day just trying to live with the pain.  His body was exhausted so keeping his spirits up was nearly impossible.  There were a lot of tears shed by everyone, not only because of the pain he was currently experiencing but trying to grapple with the news we had just received.  

<The bone biopsy can be explained pretty easily; imagine a screw driver going into your hip.  Now, imagine that screwdriver is also a turkey baster and once "screwed in" the suction cup starts pulsing...once, twice, three and four....>

Now we just had to wait for all the results to come in, which we were told would be Tuesday or Wednesday.

Old Guy

If you google Multiple Myeloma you will find that the average person who is diagnosed with this disease is an African American male who is obese and over the age of 50. So now you can add Matt to that category.  We received preliminary confirmation on Tuesday from the oncologist that it was indeed Multiple Myeloma and a tentative treatment plan.  Wednesday was the day we were waiting for because that was the day all results would be back and we would be given the official treatment plan.  Matt's oncologist set up a meeting with us at 10:00am and would then provide us with everything we needed to know to move forward.   

What the oncologist shared with us were basically three main steps.  Matt would first be given a low-dose of chemotherapy every four days by way of injection.  This would be done as an outpatient.  He would then take another 4-5 types of medication at home.  

After the low-doses of chemotherapy are finished and Matt is in partial remission, meaning his cancer cells have reduced by 50% (for Matt this mean 30% of his bones as 60% of his skeleton is currently being invaded), he will begin the next phase....

The doctors are very confident that this will go in to remission, they gave us an 80% likelihood.  Their biggest concern is keeping it in remission.  They have informed us that Matt is the perfect candidate for a bone marrow transplant because he is young, healthy and strong.  This transplant is not necessarily part of the cancer treatment itself, but more of the long term recovery and maintenance.  

With that being said, Matt began his first chemotherapy treatment on Wednesday and then was released (woohoo!) to come home.  He's pretty tired and weak but he's getting stronger by the day.  His kidney function is improving every day which means he is already responding to the treatment.  I will continue to update everyone on his progress and how his levels are improving.  

                        

Thank you for all of your phone calls, texts and messages of support over the past week.  We have experienced every emotion possible in this past week and all of your support has made it bearable.  We will continue to need your support over these next few months so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  

Please call, text, email, carrier pigeon kind notes etc. but don't be offended if we take some time to respond...

Lots of love,

Matt and Mandy