Catch that pigeon!

Today was Tim's first appt. since going off Velcade. I was a bit nervous. I tried to brace myself and him for a rise in numbers and said it's OK as long as it levels off at some point. Last month,
he went off chemo based mostly on a second(actually our third) opinion. Tim's doc felt it was still
working and would have kept going but the neuropathy had started and I did not want it getting worse and the last month
on it his M-spike went from .23 to .21 and Igg which is already below normal just down a few more points. It looked a lot like a plateau to me. Anyhow, imagine my surprise when I look at
his lab reports and see his M-spike to be 0.06 and Igg even further down. I had to check the patient's name just to be
sure I got the right paperwork. I did not see that coming but damn near broke out into another
happy dance. Dang was I happy. So for the first time in a looooonnnngggg time, he can go two months before doing the old pee-in-a-jug, pump out blood and doctor's appt. routine. So anyway,
we met a couple we've seen and gabbed with several times before as well as a guy who is in a
complete remission and is 45 and has a 12 year old daughter. Many times, we wind up having
a little support group right there in the waiting room. It passes the time and we meet the nicest
people. Anyway this guy is from the Philippines. Out of 11 siblings, only one was a match, his
eldest sister who is 65. They have been fighting with immigration for 3 years to allow her to
come over and donate cells and now it's approved and he is in CR and has been since last year.
He doesn't know what to do but he tells us a story about someone he knows in the Philippines who has MM and neither the money nor the place to get modern treatment for it. He said Philippinos use natural medicines and believe in a lot of different things healing wise and they
swear that pigeons have the antibodies to fight MM and so this guy is going to these specialty stores in North Bergen and Paterson,
NJ and buying and eating pigeon meat. Medically,
it sounded like the docs don't know why he went into a CR and supposedly this guy in the Philippines
is doing well too. I said "does it taste like chicken?!" He said no. He said it's quite gamey and
expensive and you need beer to get it down(a spoonful of sugar and all that.) But I'm thinking
maybe it's time to break out my old pistol and pop me a few pigeons and frickazee them little
suckers in some garlic and wine sauce. Well it's a thought. Tim vetoed it immediately. I've heard
crazier things but that's for another post. Time to cook dinner. No pigeon tonight but who knows
what might be in the meatloaf next week?!!!