Home by noon

I got done with dialysis at 8:45 and went over to the clinic and got home all by noon. A new record! I need to get the TV set up for the digital conversion but I'm going to nap first. I thought I was ready for the digital cutover on TVs, but apparently I'm not. I'm just a digital caveman.

Groundhog Day - more bad news and good news

I haven't put anything up for a few days as I've been in the hospital since Sunday. I guess I should have called a few people but since I knew what was happening (it was the exact same thing as last Sunday) and that I'd be home by Tuesday, I just said 'meh' to the whole idea.
Saturday I felt pretty fatigued and Sunday even more fatigued with almost no appetite. Sunday I started developing a fever that hit 101 and I started getting short of breath, so I went to the emergency room and they admitted me.
Dr. Warner, who handles me when I'm in the hospital, felt that it must be something I'm doing differently on the weekends. I take Septra on the weekends so maybe I have developed a reaction to it. This makes good sense as I also have a similar reaction to Dapsone, which is a similar drug. I'm going to leave off the Septra this coming weekend and see what happens. We'll replace it with a once-monthly, inhalable drug that I don't recall the name of right now. Also I was hypercalcemic so I am going to quit all my supplements.
The good news is that I am closer to doing a transplant. I am going to spend this week building my strength up. If I feel strong enough and dropping the Septra fixes my problems, I'll get started on the transplant procedure next week. If I don't feel strong enough, I'll just do another round of low-dose chemo. I'm also tapering off of the Oxycontin this week.

Neutropenia

Dialysis and more platelets today. My neutrophil (a type of white blood cell) count has fallen and I'm neutropenic. I had just bought a bunch of romaine lettuce and was looking forward to a Caesar salad. Now, I can't have any fresh fruits or vegetables (or cut flowers for that matter). I've thrown out more food this year. Maybe I'll get over it or will find someone who wants it.
Last Wednesday I stopped taking the Revlimid and it has helped my hands a lot. I'm going to stay off of it until I start another chemo round.

Bad news and good news

I've been in the hospital and offline for a few days. Sunday I started having trouble breathing. My friend Jack was over picking up a prescription for me so he took me to the emergency room. They couldn't figure out what it was immediately so they admitted me to the hospital and gave me oxygen, which helped a lot.
Most everything got ruled out by a chest x-ray and blood culture. The next possibility was an pulmonary embolism so they scheduled a CT scan to check it out. Everything on the CT scan showed negative for an embolism. Since they couldn't find a cause and I'm feeling very good today, they decided to send me home with a nebulizer and to come back in if it starts back up and the inhaler doesn't help.
The CT scan is where the good news comes in. The size of my lymph nodes and the myeloma lesions have been "significantly decreased". I don't have any numbers for comparison but it seems my current treatment is working very well.

TGIF

Another short day today. I got dialysis then some platelets and was home by 1. Very slow riding the Muni home as there had been an underground explosion in the Tenderloin. I've stopped the Revlimid for a few days and I believe my hands are a little better. I feel like I have better dexterity (maybe).

Yay - a short day!

Today I went to dialysis and needed to make sure that my potassium levels got back to normal. I got done with dialysis, went to the clinic for lab tests and found out I'm back to normal. I'm home by noon. All done with my day and I have tomorrow off - no clinic, no dialysis, no nothing.

All squared away

I finally got the oxycontin issue straightened out. I got a partial refill to last me until Monday, when they get a new delivery and can fill the remainder. It was partly my fault: I had gotten confused on the dosage and ended up using it all too early for a refill.
I also have been going back and looking at my Revlimid usage due to the problem with my hands. I told Dr. Martin I may be taking too much. We agreed I'll skip Wednesday and see how my hands are on Friday.
I had a clinic appointment today and my potassium has gotten too high again. They suggested I got to dialysis but I just have too many other things to due, I feel fine, and I'll be in dialysis anyway in about 12 hours.
OK gotta go, grocery delivery is on their way up.