home

I thought I might stay through the weekend but they were in a hurry to get rid of me today. They gave me some platelets and sent me on my way about 4:30. The house is a bit of a mess so I'll spend the weekend cleaning. I have to go into Mt Zion for a shot of Nuelasta and some fluids tomorrow.

better and better

My creatinine is down to 4 and I'm feeling pretty good so I think I'm going to start pushing to go home. I've gotten my disability papers all filled out and sent in so I can take some time off work for a while.

Back on 11

They moved me back to the 11th floor last night. Eleven is the hematology/oncology floor and it is much quieter and the nurses are nicer. I'm still in a double room but my roommate this time is quieter. He's on quite a few meds so he doesn't have much to say.
Everything is fine with me - I need to do some walking around today.

new catheter

Finally got the new catheter after waiting all day yesterday. They put me on the 14th floor. The have telemetry monitors so they can monitor my heart rate more closely. It's back to 50-60 so I think I'll go back to the 11th floor soon. I hope so - when I get here I was sharing a room with a guy from the psychiatric ward. He had to have a 24-hour sitter with him and they both liked to talk. Now I have an older Chinese man as a roommate and his entire family visits. I want to get back somewhere quieter.
I got a dose of the Melphalan last night and everything is going fine. I don't know how much longer they'll keep me here.

Delays

I got down to surgery for the catheter but my heart rate was way low (30-40) so they sent me back. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow.

Tomorrow

I just got done talking with Dr. Martin. Tomorrow I'm definitely getting a catheter for dialysis. Tuesday early I am getting some Melphalan chemotherapy. It's going to be a fairly big dose - about 1/3 of what I got for my transplant. If we can knock the myeloma counts down with this dose, I may be ready for another transplant in a few weeks. Knock wood.
I have my Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Pagan and Christian friends and family thinking good thoughts so I think all my bases are covered.

Dialysis?

They keep going back and forth on whether or not to start me on dialysis. The nephrology team stopped by and said I was scheduled for a catheter on Monday but I'll believe it when I see it.
In the meantime I'm taking velcade and dexamethasone. So that mean I'm hiccuping. I am starting to feel better. The parents on my roommate went out for smoothies and I gave them directions to Jamba Juice so they brought me one back. I highly recommend smoothie therappy.
I'm all out of paid time off so I'm going to start on short-term disability, which pays some percent of your salary while you're on it.Only problen I'm having with that is that the social worker who helps me get it filled out wears some old-lady perfume that makes me nauseous. So I have to get her out of the room as soon as possible instead of asking any questions.

I'm back

I got a call from UCSF last evening. The nephrology doctors had reviewed my most recent blood test results. They wanted me to come back in. SO here I getting fluids and being poked and prodded. One of the oncology doctors told me they were pretty sure I was going to need to go on dialysis but I'm going to wait to hear that from a nephrologist.

Velcade Day

I haven't been feeling very good the past few days. I went into Mt Zion on Sunday for fluids and a blood test. My creatinine is sneaking back up. The fluids made me feel much better and I was able to eat something. Today I am still very weak and short of breath but I was able to (barely) climb down the stairs from the 9th floor when we had a fire alarm. I don't know what caused the alarm.
I was supposed to go in for some Velcade and Melphalan. It was originally going to be Bendamustine but we can't get approval from the insurance company. Dr. Martin is on vacation and the pharmacist was pretty strongly against the Melphalan because of my kidneys. The charge nurse that was there said that it should be OK as they have done that level before for similar patients. I decided to go with the pharmacist's opinion until she could talk to Dr. Martin and work it out. So all I did was Velcade, which I have done before with only very limited success.
The pharmacist's name was Julie, who looked a great deal like my sister Julie, who is also a pharmacist. How odd.

Quick Appointment today

I got in and out in just a little over an hour today. That's the fastest ever. By contrast it was over two hours waiting on the nephrologist yesterday. I think I'm going to cancel my appointments with the kidney doctors - I wait around enough as it is.
I thought I was supposed to get an infusion of Bendamustine today but I got my days mixed up. It's supposed to be Friday, I believe.
One good thing: I am starting to be able to taste things again.

Quiet Weekend

I went into Mt Zion today for blood tests and fluids. Everything is just fine. I thought I might get stiff in my leg from having the filter put in (to keep clots from migrating to my lungs) but I haven't had any problems with it. I'm starting to get back on a regular sleep pattern again - it always gets messed up in the hospital. The only bad thing is that now I can't taste anything. Everything is bland. Hopefully that will go away soon.

Back Home

I got home from the hospital last night about 10. I had gone in for my clinic appointment last Thursday and they wanted me to go to the emergency room. I went over there but they just gave me some blood and sent me home about midnight. I got a call from the clinic on Friday evening and they told me there was a room ready and I should go back to the hospital. My creatinine, calcium and other stuff were very high and my platelets were low. So I spent the week getting pumped full of stuff.