Current Status:
(12/5/16) Funeral services were held for Maureen at Saint Michael Church in North Andover, MA.
(12/1/16) Maureen passed away at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Her husband, Jim, and children Joe and Emma were present.
(7/22/16) Been home for a full week - for the first time in months there is no leukemia in my bloodstream. This is very unexpected and very happy. The last many months have been a struggle and things were not looking good. Likely to start chemo week of 7/25 and will evaluate next treatment options once we see how I am doing post chemo. Still very much in the woods with my recovery but I now have a chance I never thought I would have
(6/26/16) Back in the hospital with a bacterial infection in my blood. Was checked in Tuesday 6/22 via Beth Israel Emergency Room. I am getting IV antibiotics to which I seem to be responding very well. Plan is to go home after I've recovered from infection.
(3/15/16) discharged from the hospital Friday March 11 after the 5 day chemo infusion. I continue treatments as an outpatient. For now that means getting platelets and red blood every couple days. Plus I started another chemo pill. Later this month I will have a bone marrow biopsy to learn the status of my disease. At that point we will determine the next treatment plan.
(2/25/16) Earlier this month we tried a phase one clinical trial drug designed to kill the cells causing leukemia. I was on the trial for three weeks. It worked okay in that it kept my leukemia stable - but stable is not good enough and we are moving to another round of high intensity chemo that requires hospitalization. Our plan for starting the chemo was accelerated by an unexpected hospitalization for a bacterial staff infection. This was discovered in a routine clinic visit and we decided since I needed to be hospitalized for the infection, there was no point in going home only to come back a couple days later for the chemo. So here I am - back at Beth Israel waiting for the infection to be resolved so the chemo can start. After the 5 day course I'll be here recovering for some undetermined number of days. The most likely next step is a cell infusion of my original donor cells. Again timing to be determined.
(1/15/16) After several weeks of my disease being quiet, in early January we learned the leukemia had again recurred. It was detected as 'blasts' in my blood work. I started a 5 day course of chemotherapy on Monday January 11. Over the coming weeks I’ll have more treatment; likely another immune accelerant therapy.
(12/5/16) Funeral services were held for Maureen at Saint Michael Church in North Andover, MA.
(12/1/16) Maureen passed away at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Her husband, Jim, and children Joe and Emma were present.
(7/22/16) Been home for a full week - for the first time in months there is no leukemia in my bloodstream. This is very unexpected and very happy. The last many months have been a struggle and things were not looking good. Likely to start chemo week of 7/25 and will evaluate next treatment options once we see how I am doing post chemo. Still very much in the woods with my recovery but I now have a chance I never thought I would have
(6/26/16) Back in the hospital with a bacterial infection in my blood. Was checked in Tuesday 6/22 via Beth Israel Emergency Room. I am getting IV antibiotics to which I seem to be responding very well. Plan is to go home after I've recovered from infection.
(3/15/16) discharged from the hospital Friday March 11 after the 5 day chemo infusion. I continue treatments as an outpatient. For now that means getting platelets and red blood every couple days. Plus I started another chemo pill. Later this month I will have a bone marrow biopsy to learn the status of my disease. At that point we will determine the next treatment plan.
(2/25/16) Earlier this month we tried a phase one clinical trial drug designed to kill the cells causing leukemia. I was on the trial for three weeks. It worked okay in that it kept my leukemia stable - but stable is not good enough and we are moving to another round of high intensity chemo that requires hospitalization. Our plan for starting the chemo was accelerated by an unexpected hospitalization for a bacterial staff infection. This was discovered in a routine clinic visit and we decided since I needed to be hospitalized for the infection, there was no point in going home only to come back a couple days later for the chemo. So here I am - back at Beth Israel waiting for the infection to be resolved so the chemo can start. After the 5 day course I'll be here recovering for some undetermined number of days. The most likely next step is a cell infusion of my original donor cells. Again timing to be determined.
(1/15/16) After several weeks of my disease being quiet, in early January we learned the leukemia had again recurred. It was detected as 'blasts' in my blood work. I started a 5 day course of chemotherapy on Monday January 11. Over the coming weeks I’ll have more treatment; likely another immune accelerant therapy.
History: Some
bruising, bleeding gums and a bump on my leg brought me into my primary
care physician on Monday 12/15/14. A blood test showed an
abnormal white blood cell count that was diagnosed as Acute Myeloid
Leukemia. I was admitted to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital 12/16/14 and
remained for two months and two rounds of chemotherapy (each 7 days).
After quite a battle over two months I eventually got to remission
and was discharged for a brief trip home prior to my transplant. I
returned to Beth Israel on March 19 for more chemo and a stem cell
transplant. I remained is remission over the summer.
Updates since March
2015 transplant: My leukemia
recurred in August and since then I've been busy with more chemo
which drops my blood counts which brought me back into the clinic for frequent
(every other day sometimes everyday) infusions. Ultimately I received another cell infusion from my original donor (a DLI - kind of mini transplant to boost the original March transplant) in early December of 2015.
I was hospitalized three times since the transplant – once shortly
after the transplant with water in the lungs.
The second time in early November for an infection during which time I
received a round of chemo – all good after that trip. The last
hospitalization was in early December 2015. Started with low blood
pressure (tied to the the DLI). The low BP was corrected quickly with some other
complications (high liver numbers, rash, graft vs host) keeping me in the
hospital for about a week. The GVH is actually a good thing in that it
shows my immune system is getting a nice jump start. I was discharged 12/18/15.
Prognosis:
Despite all the above, I remain on a forward path toward getting to a
sustainable remission and leukemia free life
Random Observations: I
was in a B-A-D bad shape in December of 2014 and it is remarkable I even made
it through the initial days of treatment. The power of prayer!
We've overcome quite a lot…the first donor backed out but another donor
was found. My leukemia recurred pretty quickly after the initial
remission. Recurring cancer is never good and brings unique concerns when
it happens so quickly after the first remission. It is “remarkable” (my doctors
words) I've remained an outpatient for so much of the time since the original
discharge back in March. I've been neutropenic much of that time with
exceptionally low white blood cells. Finally I've been hospitalized three
times with symptoms that could have been very dangerous to my long term
health. Yet I've been treated and released very quickly in very strong
shape. Your prayers, kindness and support are irreplaceable.
And how are the Staudts doing?? Strong, great kids and
I am so grateful for all you are doing to support them. Jim is amazing,
Keeping strong for me and the kids and keeping the home together with the help
of you all.
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