About Nicole

It all started on December 12, 2008 when I was admitted to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in complete renal (kidney) failure. It wasn’t that I was that sick, just not feeling too well. My doctor, Dr. McGinnis, was just as surprised as I was, but she sent me to where I needed to be for the best treatment possible. The first step in my recovery was to identify the reason behind my kidneys failing. The doctors at Abbott ruled out everything from lupus, diabetes, other tumors to NSAID medications during my 12 day stay. On my last day at Abbott, I was introduced to my Oncologist, Dr. Stuart Bloom, and he told me of the possibility of being diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Dr. Bloom thought the possibility was slim that I would actually have Multiple Myeloma as it is a cancer of elderly populations, males, and African Americans, but it needed to be ruled out. I left the hospital on December 23, 2008 to make it home for Christmas with my family with my hopes high that it was not cancer (but my gut was telling me it was). The holidays were extra special this year; it was no longer about the gift giving or receiving, it was about spending time with family, enjoying their company, getting reacquainted with them, enjoying the time given to me, thankful to be around! I was also focused on finding a new normal, as my life was changing day to day. I returned to Abbott on December 30, 2008 for a bone marrow biopsy. The bone marrow biopsy would rule out (or in my case confirm) the cancer. I left Abbott that day anxious for my follow-up appointment with Dr. Bloom the following Monday. January 5, 2009, I met with Dr. Bloom and he revealed my fate. I indeed had Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells, and the kicker was… no cure. Dr. Bloom wrote the following to me, because I shut down after hearing the news:

Nicole, as shocking at it may seem, you have a disease called Multiple Myeloma. This is a cancer of the bone marrow that usually happens to older people. It is usually not curable with conventional treatments, though it may be curable with an “Allogeneic Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplant.” I am leaving you with a handout about this treatment for more details, but we will discuss all of this many times.

The goal of the treatment is to help you live as long as possible and feel as well as possible. We will try to turn this into a chronic managed disease.

Step one: Get the disease under control with 2 pills: Revlimid and Dexamethasone

Step two: A Stem Cell Transplant

I started on chemo on January 6 and am now completing my fifth cycle. I also take steroids each week to help knock down the cancer. I have had an enormous response to the chemo, with a 97% decrease in my free kappa light chains, which sets me up in favor for the stem cell transplant. If things continue to go well, I will be admitted to the University of Minnesota, Fairview on July 1 for an Autologous Stem Cell transplant. I decided to take the safe route when it came to the Stem Cell Transplant. I had two choices: An Allogeneic Peripheral Stem Cell Transplant and an Autologous Stem Cell Transplant. There were no guarantees to survival with the Allogeneic Transplant, but a probable cure. The Autologous Transplant will guarantee remission for a number of years, and I will continue to pray for a cure one day!

I will be completeing outpaient testing the first week and then in the weeks to follow, I will be starting the transplant process.  They require you to be 30 minutes or less from the University in case of a complication developing. I am planning to be back to my old self by October…but I am told it could take a year to completely recover.

I will continue with dialysis until I am eligible for a kidney transplant. I understand my cancer needs to be in remission for five years before I can be put on a transplant list. There is not a lot of evidence that my kidneys will come back, but there is always hope! Stranger things have happened! I have a long road of treatments ahead of me…some hard times, but I am up to the challenges…I have to look at them as challenges, hit them head on, never stop fighting, because I have way too much to live for and lots to do yet!

I left my job at Ridgewater College on May 15. It was hard to leave, but I see now it was the right thing for me to do. I miss everyone so much, the contact with people and the work. I eagerly look forward to my return to Ridgewater in May 2010.

Looking forward, I have mixed emotions about what I am jumping into July 1. It is the treatment that will take me into my future, to live the rest of my life, but it is also the riskiest procedure I have had. I am not looking forward to being away from home, family and friends…but time will pass, as it always does, and in reality, I will be home before I know it!

-Nicole