Followup to PN post

I got some feedback after my last post that it seems as if I'm really upset and discouraged.  I didn't mean for it to come across that way.  My peripheral neuropathy is a minor annoyance, but I'm not upset and discouraged by it.  I will gladly continue to tolerate this minor issue as a small price to pay for achieving a Complete Response to my myeloma.  I am a bit anxious about the possibly more severe PN side effects of my forthcoming Velcade treatments, but I'm planning to discuss this in depth with Dr. Richardson, so that we are both on the same page.

In the best case, there may be no side effects over the short time period I will be on this consolidation therapy.  Even if there are some PN side effects, I would hope that they would be reversible.  As a backup position, I may still be able to get the Velcade administered subcutaneously if these side effects start to appear.  Only as a last resort would I consider dropping out of the clinical trial.  So I really have a lot of options here.  In my last post, I was just trying to think them through (engineer that I am was).

I'm having second thoughts about my metaphorical plot of land.  As I observe it, there do not appear to be many indigenous seeds (stem cells) that will allow it to flourish again on its own.  What little growth I've seen so far seems to be from seeds blown in from outside that area.  I may therefore have to reclassify my metaphor.  Instead of an autological stem cell transplant, which I had, my area seems to have undergone an allogenec stem cell transplant (stem cells collected from a donor).  Chief among the donor plants are dandelions, which unfortunately are my second least favorite plant after poison ivy.  Sigh.  Stay tuned for more exciting news about my battle against Poison Ivyloma.