Do miracles really happen or is it just coincidence? If you are a Georgia football fan and you prayed that OSU missed a game winning kick, did your prayers have anything to do with that or were you just lucky? We pray all the time for many things. Since I have been sick, people from several countries and religions have prayed to their God to help me get better. Did those help? You tell me.
Late last winter, the 14th chemo I had been on quickly lost its healing power. This has happened so many times before I have almost become immune to it. No tears, just the reality that eventually my time will be up. There had always been one more treatment option that I could try but there were now none. To give you an idea how bad it had gotten my Lambda Free Light Chain proteins had increased exponentially. A healthy person has light chains around 2. I had been able to keep mine under 60 during my journey. Over the course of two months, they increased from 100 to 600 to almost 1,500. I likely had two to three months to live.
When I initially found out that I had Multiple Myeloma, the standard protocol was to have a stem cell transplant. The procedure would begin with being bombarded with a significant amount of chemotherapy that would effectively destroy virtually all of my red blood cells, platelets and to an extent my white cells. This would reset my bone marrow and destroy the cancer cells. Preceding the transplant, stem cells are extracted from my blood to be used later after the high-dose chemo. When the cells are extracted, there is enough removed for two transplants just in case, but it is rare for a person to have two transplants. However, a second transplant was my only hope for survival.
The stem cells are then frozen with a life expectancy of roughly seven years. This happened 13 years ago. The likelihood that the cells would still be viable was not great. The fact that they were still usable was the first miracle. It seems I would have a chance.
Easier said than done. When you wipe out all of your defenses, there is significant risk of other diseases even though you are in a sterile environment in the hospital. Over the course of the next several weeks I experienced a cytokine storm, which is highly rare with an Autologous Stem Cell Transplant. A cytokine storm is a cascade of exaggerated immune responses that can cause serious problems. It is not considered a disease in itself, but rather a serious medical issue that can happen because of several underlying issues. Commonly, this means an excessive number of cytokines are released, which create high levels of inflammation in the area of the body being flooded—so much inflammation, even, that it can be fatal. In my case, I had extremely high fevers, was seizing and non-responsive. I was then heavily sedated and put on a ventilator for six days to help my body heal.
On the heels of that, CMV (Cytomegalovirus) was next. It is a virus we all have but usually doesn’t surface unless we are severely immune compromised. At the same time, West Nile Virus was also found. This is normally contracted through a bite from a mosquito that is infected. Not to be outdone the the Valley Fever that I had suffered through six years before, resurfaced creating a cocci-pneumonia condition that was life-threatening. I had so many things wrong with me the doctors struggled to discover what was causing it.
I would eventually spend 101 days in the hospital only to leave for four weeks, just enough time to contract sepsis from either a UTI or the PIC line that supports my TPN (IV nutrition). I was back in the hospital for two weeks. Then home for six weeks and making great progress until contracting parainfluenza that sent us back to Mayo for another week. Luckily these were short stays, but it just seemed like I just couldn’t’ get healthy.
The good news is that I have been out of the hospital for nine weeks and feeling good. This week I graduated from home physical therapy and have been able to walk mainly with the assistance of a cane now. I accomplished walking 620 ft in a session. We are starting to experiment with some bites of solid food each week. My white blood cells and platelets are holding their own pretty well. The Myeloma isn’t active yet, and we are hopeful that the need for blood transfusions will slow soon.
The fact that my 69-year-old body survived all of this is nothing short of a miracle. I just don’t think I could have survived without interventions by Julia when needed and the prayers of dozens of people. To answer the original question, yes, I believe in miracles, and I thank all of you that helped me get there with your prayers too.
