Invincible Velcade! Feelin' Groovy (well, Groovier, at least...)

Hiya all,
Had appointment at RSCH today - usual Monday Velcade (I'm starting week 2 of Cycle 2) and a consultant appointment. Left about 8.30, dropped off Em and the hound at my friend's (cheers, J!) and made my way. Didn't need to be there til 10, but have to account for the best part of an hour in the car park queue. But! Fortuitous happenstance! Only 3 (3! Count em'! 3!) cars in front in the queue - unheard of! So, I was on the Unit by 9.30 - not necessarily a good thing, cos I wasn't due to see the doc til 3.30, but the Velcade doesn't get made up til my bloods are done, so sometimes every minute counts. Then, the Velcade was made up and back from Pharmacy in record time. I was all done and dusted on the drug front by about 12.30. So, just the 3 hours to kill before seeing the doc, then. Never mind, I thought, I'll grab some lunch (extremely good Beef & Tomato Hotpot in the Pebbles Restaurant at RSCH - to be heartily recommended) and go for a walk down the seafront. Boy, was it hot! Even had to seek out some shade. Wandered back in good time for the 3.30 appt. That'll be the 3.30 appt that became a 5.25 appt! Long day, to say the least.
Anyway, down to the nitty gritty. Something of a mixed bag, I suppose. The MRI results were much as I expected - there is involvement in my spine and pelvis. There is some collapse of a couple of vertebrae in my neck (must be the weight of all the brains - or the thick skull), but this is pretty much consistent with my diagnosis and the Zometa (a bone-strengthening biophosphonate drug I receive every 8 weeks via IV) should help arrest any further deterioration. There's also signs of some kind of vascular degeneration (can't remember the actual term given) in the joint of my right hip, which could potentially mean a hip replacement some time down the line. It's been caused by the lovely Dex (oh, how I adore those tiny pills of delight! Little fuckers!). I'm not in any pain with it at the mo, it could come to nothing anyway and, frankly, they can replace as many joints as they like, if they get me through the mm crapola. Hack away, guys! Really couldn't give a flying fuck. Hip replacement surgery will be a piece of piss, after two SCTs and two other rounds of chemo!
Now for the good news. There are various ways that they monitor the activity levels of mm and in my case, the light chain levels in my blood seem to be the best way. The doc checked them today and, given that it wouldn't be unknown to see little or no improvement at this stage, he told me that they're falling fast and it looks like I'm getting a remarkably good response to the Velcade. So, with the two of us second-guessing what the Marsden transplant team might recommend, I could be looking at just 4 cycles of Velcade, which should end by late Sept, if there's no delays (delays can happen if I were to pick up an infection, or start to have bad side effects, for example). So if that is the case and they want to press on with the transplant on the hurry-up (as I think is usual), then I could be looking a being in for the allo by, what, late October? Out and backing away from death's door in time for Christmas, hopefully? All guesses, but educated ones (by the doc, at any rate).
So, that's where I am so far. Seeing the Marsden two weeks on Weds, so hope to have at least a vague plan of the next few months by then. I'll try to post again before that, but we're off for a week on Sat with Pam (harbinger of the Holy Stem Cells) and Olivia for a restful week in a chalet on the Norfolk Broads. No internet connection, so no blog. Just sitting on my fat, Dex-ed arse, eating too much. Since seafood (amongst other things) will be off the menu for a long time post-allo, I feel it is my solemn duty to stuff my chubby cheeks with as much of the stuff as I can, while I can. A duty, I might add, that I'm undertaking with my usual sober demeanour - lobster thermidor for breakfast, anyone?
Closing now - soz it's been such a long one, but you might have to wait for a while for any more Amanda-lovin'! You unlucky/lucky* people! (*delete as applicable)
Hunkous great wobbly chunks of slobbery lurve,
Amanda xxx