Longer Treatment Plan

I took a picture of this cartoon from an exam room
in the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

My regular and primary employment is to teach band at Chugiak High School within the Anchorage School District.  I work with the friendliest and brightest students that I have ever met in over 30 years in education.  They’re not only extremely capable but they have true pride in their community, their school and their band.  They impress me every day.  The plan was to miss about a month of school in the Fall, but due to the aggressiveness of the myeloma, my medical team has strongly recommended a much longer stay in Seattle.  I will have to miss at least one semester of school.  The good news is, we have a substitute teacher who is able and willing to take over for as long as needed.  They couldn’t be in better hands.

As far as news of my treatment, I’ll be receiving the first transplant of my own stem cells on August 18 or 19.  Then I have to recover for a few weeks before they can do the second stem cell transplant from a donor.  The first choice of a donor would be one of my three siblings.  If they don’t provide a match, there are 150 matches from a national register of stem cell donors.  That’s 150 complete strangers whose stem cells are a near identical match to my own.  I’m not sure if they all play the tuba or banjo.  Maybe they all like sardines with cheese and crackers like I do.  My doctors told me that 150 matches is a very high number.  Once again, I feel lucky compared to many of the other patients I see at the clinic every day.