Blessed with ANOTHER Christmas!

WE had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. All six kids graced our house for a total of 5 days! Friends and family celebrated, with us, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Ralph was feeling well. Steroids help ones appetite...stress can do the same for others :( At any rate, thank you for your inquiries, cards, and well wishes. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Ralph started ROUND 3 yesterday!

One of those days...

Ralph's white cells and red cells have been misbehaving and he has not been able to receive his last treatment of the second round. Hopefully, the platelets he received and a little time off will allow him to receive it this week.

Ralph asked the doctor about the results of his bone marrow test, that he had in November, and he was a little upset to hear that his myeloma levels were at 80%. Dr. Kane, matter-of-factly,said that he would be put back into remission. At any rate, Ralph lost a lot of spirit that night...he wouldn't even open a gift that he received. Actually, we BOTH lost spirit. Neither of us focused well. It was time to regroup.

That night, I prayed for and found new strength the next morning. Maybe my prayers worked for Ralph, too, as I came downstairs to see that he had opened his gift. He remains out-of-sorts and into deep thought.

It is a fact...Ralph and I have good and bad moments...we NEVER know when the reality of our situation will become overwhelming. It is a struggle to push forward each day. It seems that weekends can be the worse...we have more time to think without the distraction of work. We are scared, and we are sad. We gather our strength from our children. We find distraction through work and laughs with friends. We may need a hug, we may need comforting words; we certainly love visits and phone calls...and PRAYERS...oh yes, PLEASE...we need prayers!

We look forward to this weekend. Nothing makes us happier that time spent with our children, family, and friends.

Enjoy your families and friends...it's the most wonderful time of the year...enjoy every moment!

Greetings family and friends!
This has been a roller-coaster year! We were blessed with so many celebratory moments! In February, Mallory and Eric were engaged!! Erin graduated, with her MBA, from Pitt, in April. Michael and Erin became engaged in May!! In July, we welcomed a new addition…a Soft-Coated Wheaten named Rosie Mae. We were able to vacation at Bethany Beach, as a family, before I went back to work and classes resumed! Megan had a very successful 1st year, as a State Farm Insurance agent, in McMurray and earned a trip to Las Vegas and was one of twenty new agents who were invited to the corporate office,! We started a new tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving, on the Sunday before, so that we can all be together! Christmas is right around the corner and we are feeling the spirit!
Among all of our blessed moments to celebrate, we, also, had a few medical misfortunes. In June, my brother had an unexpected double by-pass…the day before, one of my mother’s varicose veins, in her ankle, burst…a week later, Bob’s daughter, Britney, had an emergency appendectomy!! Things come in threes…right? Well, we like sets of three, I suppose…3 more family members needed to some attention. In August, I started the ball rolling by having a mammary duct removed after some bleeding…high risk lesion. October came and my sister-in-law, Judy, had back surgery. Lastly, Ralph’s Myeloma became more aggressive. We knew this would happen one day…just not yet, I guess. He has finished 2 of 4 rounds of chemo and will have a second stem cell transplant in March. http://ralphchicone.blogspot.com/
After March, we feel that we can only heal and recover, because we have a lot on our agenda and much to celebrate! Luckily, to distract us, we are enjoying all the planning and fuss that goes along with wedding planning! Mallory will graduate, from Pitt Grad School, in May! We have to be on the dance floors for our children’s weddings, in June and September! Along with the American Cancer Society, we plan to celebrate more birthdays, as well!
As always, we wish you and yours well! May 2012 bring you everything that makes you happiest!!
Peace and Blessings!

Rosy Cheeks and Jelly BEanS!

After Ralph's first IV chemo round, his cheeks are rosy, he is gorging jelly beans, and he is quite talkative with energy that he needs to focus!! He receives chemo for 2 weeks, twice/week then is 1 week off. He also takes steroids for 2 days and an oral chemo for 13 days. Because his white blood count and platelets were low, his port was unable to be, surgically, placed. The plan is to give him time to rebound back from treatment #1 and to give him platelets and antibiotics to place the port during the first week of December. He was able to golf, yesterday, and will enjoy Thanksgiving, with our whole family, today!

As always, we appreciate your thoughts and prayers and support. Those are blessings that we count twice!

We'll do this EVEn BETTER this time 'RoUnD!

Ralph’s Myeloma cells are becoming more aggressive, so another transplant will be done to put it back into remission. His own stem-cells are already harvested. He will go through 4 rounds of chemo starting within the next 2 weeks. The transplant is scheduled for March. There are a lot of new drugs coming out, based on research, for Multiple Myeloma. We are encouraged.

We are stronger, this time, because we know what to expect. We appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers. They certainly helped us before!

perhaps a glitch, perhaps not

It has been a really long time since I have made an entry...things had been stable. We enjoyed a family vacation in Bethany Beach and celebrated Michael and Mallory becoming engaged to a really wonderful young lady and gentleman. We look forward to weddings in June and September.

About 3 weeks ago, Ralph complained of his upper ribs hurting. Luckily, the pain subsided, but a CT scan revealed that he had a cracked rib...NO NEW LESIONS, though...phewwww! Bloodwork revealed that his white blood count was significantly low, his red blood cell count was out of whack as well as his protien levels...daily chemo was stopped...he had been on it for 2 years and protocol was only a 2 year maintenance, anyway.

After Ralph's stem-cell transplant, his Myeloma level was 3; a year later, 4; June 2011;7. According to his oncologist, it is not a concern until it is at 10, and can reach a point and level off. He sees his hemotology ongologist tomorrow at Hillman.

JUNE 2011

Ralph's bone marrow test revealed that his Myeloma levels were nearly nonexistent (#7). We, certainly, feel blessed. Together, we have a lot for which to look forward. Michael and Mallory are, both, getting married next summer. Michael's company was bought-out by another, and he sees more opportunities and plenty of learning! Megan opened her own State Farm Insurance office in McMurray! Mallory has completed 1/2 of her grad school class work and clinic work, at PITT, in Speech and Language Pathology! We have a new addition....a Soft-Coated Wheaten named ROSIE MAE!!!

TWO YEARS LATER...

Our family knows the blessings of research and doctors taking risks...knows the power of prayer...knows that God carries us when we cannot carry ourselves...will ALWAYS be thankful for the love and support of family and friends...on this day in 2009, we felt the devastation of cancer...we truly understand hope and faith...from adversity came some really good things!!!! ♥ ♥ ♥