VGPR

Back in March 2005, I was diagnosed as having multiple myeloma, a very nasty cancer of the bone marrow. My family and I had an especially strong reaction to this diagnosis because this was the same cancer that killed my father in 1985. Since my diagnosis, I have been through a lot of stuff, including four rounds of intensive chemotherapy and two bone marrow stem cell transplants. The second transplant used stem cells from my sister, and was ultimately successful. There were several significant complications, including a relapse around July of this year. But thanks to medical advances, a very effective round of additional chemotherapy, and the mercy of God, I have now reached a condition called Very Good Partial Remission (VGPR, in the trade). If I can maintain this state for three years, I can claim the Full Remission label.

My family and I are thrilled. Of course, being a stodgy, emotionally repressed white American male I find it uncomfortable doing a Snoopy-style happy dance, or anything like that. But don't let my lack of shouting and whooping it up fool you. This is the best news I've had in two years. I will probably become tiresome talking about it.

If you would like to read more about my Adventures in Cancer Land, you can peruse the WBC Remission Network site.

Update 11/4/2009: I had to take down the above named website, which had been implemented as a straightforward forum. It was getting hammered by hundreds of spammers trying to post their crap on my forum, and I got tired of dealing with the messages and alerts. I hope to convert my content from that site into a more conventional blog through Blogger/Blogspot soon.