It turned out to be not such a "light" day after all. Someone from the Myeloma clinic called us while we were waiting on Tanner's scan at 1:00 p.m. and said the doctor wanted to know if we could come on over to the clinic and see him this afternoon. We ended up being there until 7:00 p.m. and none of us had anything to eat all day except the snacks in my bag and what we could get out of a vending machine.

Dr. Barlogie was a very reassuring physician and he told us that he thought he could "cure" Tanner. He said he has myeloma still in his left leg (where it was broken), his right hip, his sternum, his ribs, his pelvis, his skull - and something is showing in his tonsils that might also be cancer.

We are going in at 9:30 a.m. to have some lab work, then going to have his tonsils biopsied at 11:30 a.m., and then back to see Dr. Barlogie at 1:00 p.m. (though from what I hear you always have to wait at least a couple of hours to get in to see the doctor.

He said Tanner's myeloma is spreading aggressively so they want to start some aggressive chemotherapy right away. It looks like the plan is to start the chemotherapy as soon as possible and see how he does and then they will determine when they will start getting ready for the stem cell transplant. All of this will begin this weekend with no time to go home and gather more clothes.

Tanner has a really large spot on his right thigh and they said it has caused a knot to bulge out of his bone. When you press into that area, you can feel the knot - and all the MRI's, PET scans, and X-rays they have done this week report that area as in danger of "immenent" fracture. The doctor told him he just needs to be careful and stay off that leg as much as possible (hard to do with the other leg being in a full cast) and that they feel like they can completely eradicate that lesion and the bone will be fine.

They told Tanner after a month of treatment, he might get to go home for a few weeks - but we have to wait and see how he's responding to chemotherapy before they make that decision.

Dr. Barlogie was dressed in his biker clothes, boots, and heavy chain necklace and came through the door and took one look at Tanner's mohawk and said "cool"! He seemed very caring and hugged Tanner several times. He was very reassuring and I feel better after seeing him today. I know that Tanner has a long road ahead of him and I'm sure there are going to be some hard days of chemo ahead of him -- but I truly feel that they will be able to take care of all of this for him.

Tanner has his mind set and he's ready for treatment. His attitude is great and he feels very confident after meeting with the doctor today. I guess we are on the road we are going to be traveling for a while now...