Breaking Therapy

Also called “bridging therapy,” this is the realm into which I cautiously step tomorrow. The first cycle of new chemotherapy drugs will be infused into my body following my first round of radiation. My clinic NP, Sherry Leroy, who I love not only because she is one of my trusted caregivers but also because she is a sister in Christ, assures me that everything will fall into a routine for me soon.

The glass flowers in the picture are so pretty, don’t you think? They remind me of how fragile life is, of how brittle my bones have become. Yet through it all, there is beauty and grace, if we just know how to see it.

As I have mentioned, everything about this treatment plan is similar in structure to my first one that started back in November 2020 after my initial diagnosis. The only changes are in the substances and frequencies. This time, I will follow a regimen of three drugs called KPd: Kyprolos (carfilzomib), Pomalyst (pomalidomide), and the steroid Decadron (dexamethasone). If you have ever taken the latter, you may refer to it as “nasty,” not because of the way it tastes, but because it can cause some nasty emotional side effects. I’ll try to remember an example for you later in this or another post.

I will be making daily trips to Pensacola for radiation. We hope to shrink the lesions, or tumors, that are causing constant often severe pain in my thoracic and lumbar spine and my ribs.

Immediately following the radiation, I will visit the nurses in the Infusion Suite to receive the Kyprolis through my trusty port that was surgically placed in my chest back in 2020. They will monitor me closely for any reactions and respond accordingly. Yes, it’s a new drug , but I have thus far tolerated everything (except the Decadron) quite well, with minimal nausea. This stuff doesn’t generally make your hair fall out either — another plus.

I will have two days back-to-back the first and second weeks. After that depending on my response, we may go once per week, but this is where it gets fuzzy for me. Simultaneously I will begin the familiar 21-day regimen of one Pomalyst per day every 28-days, off 7 days. Forty (40 mg) of Decadron will coincide with one of my Kyprolis infusions, but I’m not clear on that one either. Fortunately I have a competent staff of medical professionals taking care of me, so I will trust them to do it right.

Be assured I will check everything and ask every question; there are no stupid ones. One must take point position in her own care, and I will definitely strive to be able to explain to anyone who asks what’s going on with me at any given time.

This relapse truly hit me like a ton of bricks. I have so many thoughts to share. Some of the most piercing, constant anxieties I have are about a subject about which some might roll their eyes — my precious cats — and I will most certainly be sharing my worries about them with you.

Oh, by the way! John and I were married on 27 June, a blessed event that took many friends and family by surprise. But not the two of us. We’ve been together more than five years now. We’ve talked about it often with our only true quandary being our respective pets. (I’m sensing the eye-roll again.) He has an 80 lb. boxer, and I have six cats. For the time being, we are maintaining our separate homes, which lie only two miles apart, but we both feel frustrated and a tad overwhelmed.

John is truly an incredible man who loves me with all his heart. We pledged to take care of each other for the rest of our lives, and I dare say he has the tougher challenge. He never backs down from it, and I feel so grateful and honored to call him my husband. If our circumstances were somehow different…better…without the burdens of aging, pain, and physical limitations, we would have made the same decision because it was simply the right thing to do…because we love each other.

I’ll write more about this in the coming days because marriage is such a precious, pure, and beautiful gift of our Creator, and so disparaged in this day of self-worship and the false doctrine of autonomy — a heavy subject for another post.

As always, I will close out with a word of thanks and praise to God in all things, for we are more than conquerors through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ!

May God bless everyone who reads these words.