It has been a long time since I posted anything. I have been enjoying not going to doctors offices as much as the past year. I still go to get IV drugs once a month to help build up my bones. Pictures are of the crazy weather we have had the last few weeks. I rode my bicycle two days before the snow, and the dogwoods were blooming three days later. After the past year of battling Multiple Myeloma, I guess I have a bit of mid life crisis. I bought a "new" car. I had a Buick Grand National back in '87, and I always regretted selling that car. So, I found and bought another one. It only has 13,000 miles on it, since the owner kept it as a classic. I love having a car that I get comments about everywhere I go. Lessons learned going thru chemo seem to have been to enjoy life and if you can get what you want, go for it!

Al Gore lies! I haven't seen this much snow since a ski trip to Snowmass. We lost electricity for about 6 hours but stayed warm. It looks great but we lost a lot of tree limbs. Hopefully we will be able to get out of our driveway sometime today. I am feeling well, and get to go have another bone marrow biopsy on Monday. They are just checking to make sure everything is still OK.

Kayla's Birthday

Noah and I had a supprise birthday party for his girlfriend Kayla. We got a suite for the Maverick/Jazz game, the same night as the Cowboy/Eagles game. She was totally suprised by several of her friends and her mother, along with Beth, Doug, Paul, Holly and me. We watched live basketball and the Cowboy game on TV. The Mavs had food and soft drinks with the suite, and we ordered a cake for Kayla. Everyone seemed to have a good time(except for the Mavs, who lost). We stayed after the basketball game was over to watch the end of the Cowboy game. Most everyone was out of the arena except for people in the suites watching the Cowboys. Hopefully this will be a birthday Kayla remembers for a long time.
Love Bob

Merry Christmas to all. It was a busy week. On Tuesday I drove to corsicana to pick up mother to then drive to Lufkin. On Wednesday we drove with Neilla and Greg to Houston for my Uncle James' funeral. I then rode back to Corsicana to pick up my car with Beth and Doug. I drove home so I could drive down to Houston with Lynda on Thursday. We stayed with Lynda's brother Billy and their mother Hope, till Saturday.Christmas day we ate lunch with Lynda's sister Nancy and her husband Mark at their home. They have three lovely teenage daughters, Lacy,Jodie andRobbie. We drove home only to drive back to Corsicana on Sunday to get together with all of my family. Nothing says holidays like lunch at The Old Mexican Inn. I loved getting together with all of my family this Christmas. It really is special to have a loving family. This has been a long and hard year, hopefully 2010 will be better for everyone.

I love you all, Bob

What a happy Thanksgiving! Lynda went to Houston for the weekend to see her family, while I stayed to see all of mine. We got together at Beth and Doug's to have the traditional Thanksgiving. I ate second helpings for the first time in months. With mothers dressing, sweet potatoes, green bean cassarole, mashed potatoes, turkey and ham, who could not get seconds? It was good to see everyone, including Katie. She missed the last two Thanksgivings to be on her mission trip to Marselle, France. She said escargo just is not the same as my greenbean cassarole.(ha ha).

On Tuesday I went to the doctors office and got the results of my latest bone marrow biopsy. They said I was in complete remission of my multiple myeloma. The prayers, cards, and well wishes worked to help me get thru all the treatments to get to this point. I can not thank everyone for all the strength I have felt from all those cards and well wishes I received. Today it snowed big beautiful flakes of snow. It didn't last long and melted quickly. I felt it was a blessing, showing me how beautiful life is, even if it doesn't last as long as we want. We have to appreciate what we have while we have it. It is the little things in life God gives us that are so precious. The love of family and friends are what I cannot thank God enough for. I love you all, thank you.

Transplant

I have a new birthday! On October 23 I recieved my stem cell transplant. This is the point that I hopefully killed off all the cancer cells in my body and am rebuilding new healthy cells. I think I was lucky to have all the prayers from so many people. It was not as bad as all the doctors and nurses were telling me. I was never nauseated, just did not have much of an appitite. I was tired, and they had to put me in the hospital for two days to give me some blood and platelets. They had me go in everyday for lab work and IV fluids. It sure was better to sleep in my bed than a hospital bed. My mother came up to take care of me and Lynda, because Lynda fell off a ladder and broke her knee. Mothers are wonderful to have when you are sick and needing some TLC. It has been four weeks now and my hunger is getting lots better. I feel stronger but am out of shape after months of nothing but going to the doctors office. The love prayers and support of all my friends and family have helped get me thru a rough patch in my life, but it has shown me how wonderful life with those you love can be. The pics are of me with no hair and Jennifer Potter, the PA who has been looking out for me.

Well, I finally got started with the transplant process. I had all the chemo that was needed to get me here, so they gave me medicine to help my bones to start producing more cells they needed to collect. They thought it would be Monday before they collected, but after my blood test came back on Saturday, I was ready. I had gone to Noah's new house for his and mother's birthday party when they called. I had to eat fast and was sorry to miss getting to see everyone. They hooked me up to the machine that takes blood out, spins it down to extract the plasma cells they want and give me back my blood. I takes about four hours and is not uncomfortable at all. They had me come in for two days in a row to get all the cells they need. The nurses told me they needed 10 million cells, but were able to get over 14 million. The extra will be good for many years if I need more transplants in the future. Hopefully there will be a cure before I need all those cells. I just hope my beard grows back so you don't see that double chin in my picture. Thanks for all the preyers.