tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42151404527474106892011-07-08T03:40:35.689-04:00Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-18191020792591181812009-09-23T19:07:00.002-04:002009-09-23T19:16:12.190-04:00

The news from our visit to the Mayo Clinic last week was very good, indeed. The myeloma is still present in measurable amounts, but it is not resurgent--all of the pertinent numbers are still stable, which means that I am still in remission. No further treatment--other than quarterly monitoring--is necessary at this time. The blood clot is gone, but best practice is to keep wearing those

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-63831551829529939642009-09-03T16:06:00.002-04:002009-09-03T16:15:09.969-04:00

My friends, the old adage that "no news is good news" certainly holds true for me. I have been back at work (half time) since the first of June, and things have been going quite well. Other than the fact that my large bones have been permanently compromised (there goes any chance of winning Olympic Weightlifting gold) and muscles in my legs are still stiff (ditto my chance for Olympic gymnastic

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-39279013454224004302009-06-03T17:59:00.002-04:002009-06-03T18:14:06.982-04:00

Kind readers, when I started this blog (with the indispensable help of Ashima Saigal), I was so sick that I sometimes felt as if I would have to get better in order to die. Now, with the indispensable help of Mayo Clinic physicians and nurses, my incredible wife Florence, and the dear friends and relatives who supported us by cooking, cleaning, visiting, praying, and sending cards that were

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-7653066285789492682009-05-14T18:45:00.002-04:002009-05-14T19:23:59.258-04:00

Ninety days ago, I had my stem cell transplant. Every day since has pointed toward today, when the follow-up testing would determine if I am in remission, or if the myeloma is still active. For the past two days, I have undergone extensive testing, including a bone marrow biopsy and a PET scan, to determine the outcomes of the chemotherapy and stem cell transplant. This afternoon, we got the

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-13931824482891818272009-05-05T22:34:00.003-04:002009-05-05T22:51:11.207-04:00

May 11 is not only the day after Mother's Day, it is the day that we return to the Mayo Clinic for my 100 day testing. In truth, it's little less than 100 days post-transplant, but it's close enough to do the definitive testing that will determine my status. The possibilities are full remission, partial remission, and active disease. I feel so much better than I did immediately post-transplant

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-8492183252535179282009-04-16T21:16:00.002-04:002009-04-16T21:49:03.682-04:00

Do you recall the old Charles Atlas ads, in which the "bully of the beach" kicks sand in the face of the 98 pound weakling, who then gambles a 4-cent stamp, takes the Charles Atlas course and punches out the bully? Alas, at the moment, I am the weakling, albeit a 230 weakling, before he took the Atlas course. The last couple of days, I've been moving my library from scattered points around the

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-17507129791660911242009-04-02T00:38:00.003-04:002009-04-02T01:15:07.695-04:00

It is getting tougher to write a self-respecting blog about an illness when you are on the way to recovering from that illness. To be sure, I still get fatigued far too easily, and I continue to have trouble getting to sleep at night, and my back still hurts when I bend over, but overall, I'm slowly getting better. Now where's the excitement in that? I've actually reached the point at which I

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-34835831341247537782009-03-25T16:17:00.003-04:002009-03-25T16:35:30.347-04:00

Today is day 40 post-transplant, which seems like an auspicious pretext for an update. I also just returned from an appointment with my Kalamazoo hematologist, Dr. Vemuri, so there is actual news to convey. The news is, according to Dr. Vemuri, quite good: my blood counts are satisfactory, I am physically where I am expected to be at this stage of recovery, and completely free of infections.

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-75777222228909934842009-03-10T17:07:00.003-04:002009-03-10T17:28:49.609-04:00

Thanks for your patience, for it has been a long time between posts. Not as long a wait, mind you, as for the new season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent with Jeff Goldblum, but a long silence nonetheless. Part of that was the sheer hubbub of coming home, which occurred exactly a week ago today. Our return to Kalamazoo made Florence and me happier than Rush Limbaugh with a dozen doughnuts and

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-53641861794641113972009-02-28T19:53:00.003-05:002009-02-28T20:20:26.597-05:00

Who'd a thunk? Less than a week ago, I was in the hospital, my left leg was a pain magnet due to the clot, my blood numbers (hemoglobin, white blood cell, platelet), were vying with the Dow-Jones Industrial average for basement-dweller status, and I wore a perpetual aspect of run-down, hang-dog loserdom. Today, I am an oupatient, my left leg is feeling better due to my first therapeutic shot of

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-13006915866126724082009-02-25T21:23:00.003-05:002009-02-25T22:20:50.064-05:00

On February 17, I limped into my outpatient appointment, with a decided pain in my left calf muscle. Doctor Haman was not overly concerned, but ordered an ultrasound. The result showed a large blood clot in my left calf. Now, Dr. Haman was concerned, and ordered a CAT scan, which revealed a smaller clot in my right calf, and, more ominously, a piece of the original left-side clot that had

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-70284812569573442009-02-25T20:23:00.003-05:002009-02-25T21:17:01.969-05:00

My first thoughts from the other side...most important, this isn't the "recovered" Joel speaking, but rather, the very, very early phase of "recovering" Joel...the first gaps in the mist. The second thought is that irony is everything. You will remember that there were all sorts of dreadful side effects for which I needed to be prepared after the stem cell transplant. Nausea: in the past week

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-70246005987262358642009-02-16T18:50:00.002-05:002009-02-16T19:16:13.918-05:00

Day three after the transplant, and I have a curious feeling that everything in the world is coated with a thick veneer of molasses. I feel my energy ebbing slowly away; the daily walk to the checkup at Mayo seems like a stage of the Tour de France; foods and drinks are starting to taste a bit off; my stomach is beginning to protest about what gets put into it. And most of all, sleep is

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-64107278407589554482009-02-14T21:54:00.003-05:002009-02-14T22:18:02.592-05:00

Since my last post, I have undergone the second infusion of melphalan chemo (on Thursday), and then the actual stem cell transplant (on Friday). The two chemo sessions have done their job of killing off the bone marrow and all of its contents. As a result, my white blood cell counts are dropping, and by Wednesday or so, they will be near zero, and will hover there until the transplanted stem

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-3270583365877407282009-02-11T21:15:00.002-05:002009-02-11T21:28:16.977-05:00

Today was the first of two runs of melphalan, the chemotherapy that will wipe out the myeloma where it lives, in the bone marrow--but will wipe out the bone marrow with it. I came through with no nausea and all of my hair, although the doctors assure me that in the future, nauesea will move in and my hair will move out. One of my doctors also pointed out that this therapy was akin to skydiving:

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-68861607773988210712009-02-10T20:37:00.002-05:002009-02-10T21:00:29.870-05:00

I am reminded of the story about the snail that was stepped on by a turtle. When the police officer asked the snail how the accident occurred, he replied, "I can't tell you, officer--it all happened so fast!" For the past four weeks, Florence and I have been going through test after test, procedure after procedure, and it seemed that nothing we did was getting us closer to the ultimate goal.

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-12421200236485496162009-02-06T21:10:00.004-05:002009-02-06T21:19:29.102-05:00

More of the same to report. My white blood cell count really crashed today due to the Cytoxan chemotherapy, so I feel as if I'm trapped on a planet with very strong gravity: every step, every movement, is a real effort. The docs assure me that I will feel better early next week, when the counts recover. In the meantime, I will be checked on Sunday morning to see how many stem cells are

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-84194531440887258292009-02-04T18:06:00.002-05:002009-02-04T18:21:00.368-05:00

Today is the day they warned me about--the day that my counts would get low as a result of the the Cytoxin pulse--and they were right. I awoke this morning feeling as if I was walking through a vat of molasses, and the feeling was made all the less pleasant by the low-grade pain that resulted from the installation of the central line yesterday. That paid off, however, when I went in for my

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-13594372816198319582009-02-01T00:36:00.002-05:002009-02-01T00:55:18.234-05:00

The adventure continues. On Friday the 30th, I had the "pulse" (as they call it at Mayo) of Cytoxin chemotherapy. Then, on Saturday, the 31st, I had the first injection of Neupogen, the stem cell stimulating factor that will make the stem cells migrate from my bone marrow into the bloodstream, where they can be harvested. So far, no significant ill effects from either, although the side

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-56445560016318957492009-02-01T00:26:00.000-05:002009-02-01T00:28:38.830-05:00

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-83348270623293771002009-01-26T22:34:00.002-05:002009-01-26T22:52:10.636-05:00

Last week's extensive testing revealed good news and bad news. The good news is that I am a 51 year-old with the body of a 40 year-old. The bad news is, that 40 year-old body has myeloma that is beginning to make a comeback. My last Velcade treatment was January 9, and the little beast is taking advantage of that lull to regroup and reassert itself. It is not advisable to enter the stem cell

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-67296162651527477212009-01-18T18:50:00.004-05:002009-01-18T19:10:20.420-05:00

The title of this post, of course, paraphrases Tom Paine's immortal line, "Now is the time that tries mens souls." Florence and I are in Rochester, and the next few days will be occupied by a long list of tests to determine if I am healthy enough to undergo the chemotherapy and the stem cell transplant that will, God willing, get me into remission. Here are the tests (leaving our routine blood

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-79879524082121544962009-01-01T16:36:00.004-05:002009-01-01T17:02:37.496-05:00

In the spirit of our great business tycoons (well, at least of those who are not currently bankrupt or under indictment), I thought I would send along to you a year-end report on my current condition. And what a year it has been! In early September, I thought I was healthy man with a slight backache. By the middle of October, I was so racked with pain from myeloma and reactions to medicines

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-19033089409727645392008-12-31T15:37:00.003-05:002009-01-01T16:36:36.203-05:00

Here I am wearing the typical academic regalia of a professor in Kazakhstan, a wonderful gift to me from my student and good friend, Ainur Nurtai. As you can see, with its rich golden embroidery and bishop's miter-inspired cap, it will make a striking impression during the next academic procession in which I take part! Thanks, Ainur, for making me the best-dressed professor every time I

Ashima Saigalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14957214808729962932noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-79099976373025096842008-12-05T19:34:00.002-05:002008-12-05T19:47:21.246-05:00

When last I reported on my condition, I was breaking up with my constant companion of 6 weeks, Vicodin, and was in a world of hurt because of it. Well, the good news is that we are now at the end of the second round of velcade chemotherapy, and the chemo is reducing the pain associated with the myeloma. The pain is still there, I can assure you, but it is getting more bearable as the chemo

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-26821093213845097442008-11-20T16:04:00.003-05:002008-11-20T16:17:37.445-05:00

Announcement #5, November 20, 2008Just a short announcement for today folks. Dr. Vemuri, my Kalamazoo hematologist, has decided that it would be best if I were to throttle back on the narcotic painkillers that I am taking to deal with the array of bone and muscular pains that come with multiple myeloma. These pain killers, especially Vicodin, have become very close personal friends of mine over

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-91495783921477204672008-11-19T17:24:00.000-05:002008-11-19T17:25:23.572-05:00

November 1, 2008Dear Friends:In my last update, I said I would try to share some more positive news the next time around. Well, I can mostly deliver on that promise. The week did not start auspiciously; however, for on Sunday, October 26 I began to experience an array of disturbing symptoms. I became disoriented, had difficulty in speaking and concentrating, and alternated between chills and

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-73172007723700330512008-11-19T17:23:00.000-05:002008-11-19T17:24:22.507-05:00

October 17, 2008-and-October 22, 2008Dear Family and Friends:The first five paragraphs of this update were written on October 17, when, other than persistent pain, the way forward looked pretty straightforward, and quite positive. The remaining paragraphs were written on October 22, after that way forward suddenly changed without warning. We are still looking forward to a positive path—but it

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-92046930082927082862008-11-19T17:22:00.000-05:002008-11-19T17:23:41.869-05:00

October 11, 2008Dear Family and Friends:Over the past three months, I have encountered a series of seemingly minor, apparently unrelated health issues—a low hemoglobin count on an annual physical, broken ribs while roughhousing with Andrew and hauling luggage, a persistently sore back after moving Anita and Andrew back to school. After I flunked a second blood test for hemoglobin levels, my

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4215140452747410689.post-43411213773125220822008-11-19T09:45:00.000-05:002008-11-19T09:46:10.254-05:00

November 14, 2008Dear Friends and Family:I am writing this from the Mayo Clinic, where we have just gotten some good news. Tests here have indicated a dramatic drop in the monoclonal proteins produced by the myeloma. After completion of just a single round of velcade chemotherapy, the level of monoclonal proteins dropped by about 70%, from a level that just three weeks ago was threatening

Joel Oroszhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13646717153651062661noreply@blogger.com1