Update 2/28/05

Besides having horrible weather, it's 60 and clear, I have good news and better news. The good news is that having seen the doctor, Ferrajoli, today, my counts are good, the bad numbers remain low and the good numbers remain high.

The better news is that I've been accepted in a phase I study today, sponsored by the company that produces the drug, it's:

Phase I Clinical Trial of Oral Suberoylanilide Hydromaxic Acid (SAHA) In Patients with Advanced Leukemias or Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Christy is already looking into trying to translate the Clinical Trial into English, I'm sure she will post a translation shortly.

I start the study Wednesday, depending on a bone marrow biopsy and a chest x-ray and ekg, both of which I have had here before with good results. The trial has a 20% chance of pushing me totally into remission. Considering Mylotarg had only a 10% chanceof success, and I had only a 2% chance of surviving my V.O.D., I"m pretty happy with the anticipated results.

We travelled to Terri's mom and dad the weekend of the 17th, and had a good time. I was able to drive 3 1/2 hours down and about 4 hours back. It was tricky at first but gave Terri a good break on the 11 1/2 hour drive.

I'll try to post more often, more as results become available.

Chris and Terri

A little too close

The little boy came out in me as I watched with enjoyment as our neighborhood house was torn down in a matter of minutes. I was up working on my computer and looked over to see the whole house shaking so I put on my coat and watched. Here are a couple of pictures.







So at this point most houses have gone down, but this one wasn't going down so easy. Guess it is time to push the left wall in so it falls to the right, AWAY from our house.


Things were going so well, until the ENTIRE house came down. The roof slid off the top of the house, the backhoe driver had to get out of the way so the house doesn't come down on him.



As you can see that is our gas meter, and the house is about 6 inches from hitting it. That would not have been good.

I was nervous the whole time they were tearing it down, but the backhoe driver just about had to change his pants when the house came down so suddenly.

Now you can see the house it down. Nothing like 1 hour to tear a house down.

--RM

Our little guy

Sorry had to wait until everyone got the real pictures. Not much to report, Dad is now in the paid apartment, which is much nicer. Good number are up and bad numbers are down. So far so good.

The low-down on partial match stem cell transplant

Chris had mentioned something to Ryan on the phone last week about a kid that they met who was going to go to Israel to have a stem cell transplant (txp) from a partial match family member. The technique is called haploidentical stem cell txp and has been around for about 10 years. It was pioneered in Italy and there was a major European study that concluded in 2002. It is used in the US on children and adults in clinical trials at major cancer hospitals. From my searches online, it appears that Duke does them in adults and the Mayo Clinic is getting ready to start a large multi-center trial on adults as well. There are a bunch of inclusion criteria that I am not sure Chris would meet but it might be worth a shot. That way, I think almost any sibling could donate. I think Baylor College of Medicine has a trial going on too.

For more information on the procedure check out
www.haplo.org

For the information about the Mayo study check out
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00101140

We've moved

Finally, we've moved back to Greenbriar, we're at
7777 Greenbriar Apt 1019
Houston, TX 77030
(713) 795-0339

It's nice to be in an apartment that makes you feel more at home, and having said this, we're off to Springfield, MO again to see Terri's parents. Should be a good weekend off and out of this cold weather, it's been down-right cold at 80 degrees.

The apartment is right off Braeswood or King, and the fog last night kept us from even seeing the University of Texas towers at night.

We lunched at Carabas last week and Nit Noi yesterday. Nice places!

Good numbers going up, bad numbers going down, I'll try to blog more often.

Dad and Terri

Trevor hits the bottle

Well we are out in Florida with Christy's family. As you can see we are up to no good. Uncle Tom is making sure Trevor doesnt drink the whole bottle.

Free RingTones off your computer

I just tried this and it worked great.

Go to www.smashthetones.com

If your phone can support MP3 files you are on the right site, if it can only support midi/polyphonic then click here.

Then you upload your mp3 or midi file to their site and sent it to your phone. Then you should get a text message that allows you to download the file and you are set.

Enjoy

-rm

Blue Cross Blue Shield lends a hand, thanks to Jeff

Blue Cross is picking up the tab for bone marrow testing in KC. Click on the picture below to see the info.

Who is the cutest baby?

What an easy question? We just had pictures done of Trevor yesterday and they came out pretty well. So the buzz has started about the family reunion. I dont know anything about it, but I will find something out. Stay posted.