Team #meyerstrong

Jeff’s cancer journey has reached the proverbial fork in the road. Since October, he’s been receiving chemotherapy treatment at UCLA’s infusion center on Tourney Road in Santa Clarita. Tomorrow at 1pm, a new form of treatment begins at UCLA’s Westwood facility and it’ll be a little more extreme than the first.... Jeff will begin receiving shots at that time that will generate the production of stem cells in his body. He’ll receive the same three shots for 5 days and then on Tuesday, Feb. 16 be attached to a machine that will pull those stem cells out of his bloodstream for later transplant. It’s a fascinating scientific approach to fighting Multiple Myeloma and in the last decade-plus has become a standard of care for this form of blood cancer and others. It’s a little more involved than the first phase of Jeff’s treatment (which has been quite successful in killing cancer cells in his bone marrow). First of all, there’s the trifecta of daily shots that could cause bones to ache as they go into hyper-drive generating stem cells. Then, there’s the possibility that docs will have to insert a catheter in the chest if Jeff’s veins prove too wimpy for the 4-hour harvesting procedure. The stem cells will be transplanted back into Jeff at a later date (docs are shooting for a March 1 timeframe). Of course, before the transplant, doctors will hit Jeff with high doses of chemotherapy, which are intended to kill off any remaining malignant cells but will also kill off all of his healthy white and blood cells and platelets. The transplanted stem cells are supposed to host a community barn raising once they hit Jeff’s bone marrow, completely rebuilding his immune system! A completely rebuilt immune system will take 6-12 months. The attached photo is from Jeff’s Tourney Road care a few weeks ago. Please keep him in your prayers as he embarks on this new phase of his cancer voyage.

We’ve just written to Congressman Garcia and our U.S. Senators from California, asking them to support The 100 Days Agenda: A Patient-First Blueprint an effort by 34 organizations, including The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, to urge lawmakers to ensure all Americans have access to adequate and affordable health care.

Chemo Round #1 is complete. No nausea, slept fairly well and no pain from the infusion. So far, so good. Second infusion will be Thursday and then I settle into a Monday and Thursday routine that will become my life for the next few months. So thankful to all the people who have reached out with messages of encouragement, prayers and offers of help. Your kindness during this time has lifted our spirits and will never be forgotten.