Nada today

Went to work, then got off a little early so I could drop in at the Mt Zion clinic for a blood draw. Grocery store was crazy. One of those days having a car just gets in your way.

Last one for a while

Today is day 16, the final day, of cycle 1. I go back to check in with the doctor on 1/6 but don't have to go back for another dose of carfilzomib until cycle 2 starts on 1/12. I'll drop in tomorrow on my way to work for a blood draw but that's all.
I should have been done by 11 or so but Shin-Shin had to wait to get the results of a blood test as the final blood test last night showed my potassium was high. It must have come down overnight because it came back normal. Maybe it was something I ate. A week ago I had a chocolate milk shake and the next day my blood glucose was very high. Anyway, it took an hour longer since I had to sit around and wait. I've been taking dexamethasone prior to the infusion and that makes me very fidgety so it felt like twice as long.
I'm debating whether to take a sleep aid tonight as it's hard to get any sleep until the dexamethasone passes. Last night wasn't good and it didn't help that half the fire department, complete with two ladder companies, pulled up right under my window. Ladder companies won't do me any good on the 9th floor, so that was kind of exciting. I didn't see any smoke and they left pretty soon so I guess it was a false alarm.

A lo-o-o-o-o-ng day

I just got home about 5:30 after getting into the clinic at 8 this morning. This is the particular day of the cycle when they want blood draws every 5, 15, 30, 60, 120 ,etc minutes after the infusion. They also take three EKGs and start a 24-hour urine collection. So I'll be toting my pee around all evening. Good thing I'm not going out. My hemaglobin is low so they decided to give me two units of blood. I thought that was kind of odd. I'm pretty short of breath but my energy has been coming back the past few days. Yesterday I even went for a long walk. Long for me anyway, I walked over to the Civic Center Farmer's Market - about a mile. My creatinine is down - maybe that's it.
The clinic was really busy today. I got there at 8 and there was a line down the hall to check in. Since I had gotten my blood tests yesterday, I got in pretty quickly. Shin-Shin was my nurse today. She's nice and really cute but less talkative than the other nurses.
I have got to get a handicapped parking placard soon. It was $30 parking today. I went out to Pasta Pomodoro for lunch and so I got two parking charges instead of the one-day max of $24.
Back tomorrow for another infusion but without all the EKGs and blood draws.

Just blood tests

Today's festivities included a trip over to the Mt Zion campus of UCSF for a blood draw. I do this ahead of time so that the results are already in when I go in for an infusion tomorrow.

It's always cool going there. It's about 5 minutes from my house and on Sunday mornings you don't have to wait or anything so I'm in and out in about 10 minutes. Some of the same nurses at the Parnassus clinic work there too so I always know a few people.

I felt quite a bit better when I woke up this morning. I was thinking maybe my blood counts might be coming back up, which would be really good news. I still got a bit out of breath while taking a shower so maybe not. I'll find out tomorrow.