2014, March 31 First Provenge Treatment Done

A week ago to day, March 24th, we went to Vancouver for the first part of Leland's first Provenge treatment.  We caught a ride with the Mt Adams Senior Transportation, had a very nice and friendly driver who came to our door and delivered us to the Red Cross Center in Vancouver.  It is the only one between California and Seattle which does the aphoresis treatment.  Within moments our nurse had him attached to a very sophisticated machine with a lot of tubing; she told us that during the 3 hours he would be hooked up, his entire blood supply would be run through the machine twice.  We could see the the progress being made as the white cells and plasma were withdrawn into a gas permeable bag. The nurse told us the cells would be able to give off carbon dioxide and take in oxygen as well as be nourished by the plasma en route.

He handled the treatment well, and we returned home later that day; our driver had waited for us.

  On Thursday, the 27th,  we went to Seattle in the morning, this time with Del and Chuck to do the driving.   Leland's re-infusion was scheduled for 12:45 pm.  He had to have pre-meds infused first, then the main infusion of his newly activated immune cells, all of which took about 3 hours.  Then we went to a division of Quest Laboratory in the same building and he had his blood drawn for Circulating Tumor Cell Test as benchmark.  They will order another one a short time after the Provenge is completed;  it should assist the dr. in the determination of how well this worked and what the next step in his treatment will need to be. We ent to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory, and stayed overnight in our hotel, rather than make the round trip in one day.

My shoulder is slowly progressing, and I am able to do a little more with my right hand, such as dress myself and again, and cook.  I am still unable to drive, and still in PT which is still quite painful at times. I was certainly not prepared for the all the ramifications of this surgery, but am so grateful it is done, and healing  even though it is very slow, and still quite uncomfortable a good deal of the time. I am able to key board with both hands again, although it is a strain-makes my right hand and entire arm ache.

We went to Portland on Sabbath the 28th for Phoenix's first birthday.  What a wonderful time we had with all our family except Grant there, as well as many of Cher and Todd's friends and their little ones.  Cherilyn had made a beautiful cake with fondant frosting and jungle animals on it.  Phoenix took it all in stride, and seemed to enjoy every moment.  We got to see him take some toddling steps on his own, and spend some great play time with him. He is a darling little man, and we are very much in love with him.  Cherilyn and Todd are such good parents, it does our hearts good to see them all together.

2014 MARCH 8

Another month has flown by. We returned from Seattle on Wednesday this week and we are facing another bend in the road.  Leland's PSA jumped to 11 which indicates positively the Xtandi is not working. Dr. Chen says to discontinue and has ordered him to begin a new treatment called Provenge; which is an immune system assault on the cancer.  It will consist of three treatments two weeks apart over six weeks.  His blood will be withdrawn after a catheter has been placed, his immune cells will be separated out and the rest of his blood will be returned to the other arm.  The removed dendritic immune cells will be sent to a specialty lab in California, exposed to prostate antigens, sent back to the Seattle clinic and infused back into his blood stream three days later.  This hopefully will encourage his immune system to fight the cancer and give him more quality time.

Since I am still unable to drive and Leland is unable to stay awake long enough to make the trip, Del and Chuck came with us to Seattle to help drive.  We stopped in Kelso to see  Karly and Tristin.  Karly looks good and Tristin is adorable.  Our visit had to be short because it was a long day.  Upon reaching Seattle we met Chaunda and got a tour of her warehouse apartment, an interesting experience!

We had a great dinner at an Indian Restaurant; went to our hotel and turned in.  Wednesday while Leland and I were at the clinic Del and Chuck took the car, went to the mall, did a lot of walking,a little shopping, and a lot of waiting.  Leland was not feeling very well--head cold, sore throat and Dr. Chen ordered a vitamin infusion which took another hour and one half in addition to the regular two and one half hours we usually spend.

The trip home was long but thankfully the roads were bare.

Since I am still in my sling and still experiencing a fair amount of discomfort Del kindly offered to type this for me.  So this is a joint effort.  My surgery went very well--at least according to the doctor.  I feel like I've been ruined!  Seriously though, I am slowly progressing with the help of my excellent physical therapist.  Leland has been a wonderful nurse and literally my right hand man.

We remain, as always, very thankful for the many blessings we enjoy.

We really appreciate Del and Chuck's help.