Dana Farber Day or Toto We're not in Kansas Anymore

We survived Dana Farber Day.  As we continue to ride the cancer emotional roller coaster, today was one of the better days we have had in a long time.  To start with Dana Farber itself is quite impressive, how can you go wrong with a hospital that has a baby grand piano in the main reception area as well as free coffee and water.  In addition they use the good elastic wraps after they draw your blood, not the tape or band aids that rip out all of your arm hairs when you try to pull of the band aid (they also let you chose which color wrap you want, I chose purple, I also think the gauze pads they use are just a little bit softer).

The attractive receptionists all smile at you and make you feel welcome, plus lets not forget the pretty young woman who walks around the waiting room with a cart of books and magazines for you to choose from and read while you wait. When I asked the receptionist whether the doctor was usually on time, she replied that the doctors at Dana Farber are always on time.

Of course the building itself is new and nice and they serve Starbucks coffee in the cafeteria, but the picture below of a sign that is in all the waiting rooms explains the real reason why I am transferring my care to Dana Farber.... 

....really they let you borrow iPads while you sit in the waiting room.  Attractive receptionists, good band aids, Starbucks coffee, free use of iPads how can you say no to that?

I suppose there is also the matter of the treatment you receive after you spend some quality time in the waiting room with the complimentary iPad.  For the first time in 3 weeks I feel a sense of hope.  For starters I would like to thank my parents for having my sister before they had me, allowing me to be born and diagnosed with MM a few years later than if I was the first born in our family.  According to my new oncologist Dr. Munshi, if I had been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma 2-3 years ago I would have a much different prognosis than he was able to give me today.   

The new medications that have recently been introduced have changed MM from being viewed as a death sentence in a few years after diagnosis to being viewed as a chronic disease that needs to be monitored and addressed through treatment periodically after initial treatment is completed.  

The treatment itself is much less debilitating than it has been in the past thanks to the new cocktail of medications that they will be using.  I will first go through a course of radiation to address the tumor in my head and then a round of four chemo therapy treatments, that while they might tire me out a little will allow me to keep working.  Culminating with a bone marrow transplant that should still be a pain in the butt.  This is a much better prognosis for treatment than I received at UMass where I was told that the treatment would be so exhausting I would not be able to work for 4-6 months.  

A good day filled with hope for the first time in a long while, plus I have stopped planning my own funeral in my head.  Though I have to admit I was looking forward to all the nice things I planned to have Elyse say about me as part of the eulogy I was writing for her to read at the funeral.  Plus the song I was going to have the girls sing would have sounded quite lovely.