TGIF...

... and I'm wrapping up some stuff. I just finished the latest round of chemotherapy (Melphalan, Revlimid, Prednisone) and now it's just a matter of waiting and seeing what happens. My white cell counts will start dropping in a few days.
Today's blood test results were typical. I needed to get transfused with platelets. I'll likely need red cells when I go in on Monday. I'm a little low on calcium but no big deal.
Dr. Peng was talking about increasing my dialysis time from three hours to four hours. Three hours is a very long time so I tracked her down to talk her out of the four hour version. My creatinine and other kidney-related counts are looking good so there's no need for a longer dialysis.
My weight has been dropping some. I'm at 160 lbs and I was at 190 lbs when all this started. I talked to one nurse and she recommends more milk shakes. I can get behind that idea.
I also made an excellent discovery, food-wise: fresh sourdough bread makes outstanding french toast.
My hands are starting to hurt again so I'm logging off.

Chemo

I just got home from dialysis. I started a round of chemotherapy with Melphalan, Revlimid and Dexamethasone last night. So far, no problems except I was a little nauseous this morning during dialysis. I took a Kytril and it fixed me right up. I'm just going to take it easy today and see what happens.

Happy Memorial Day

I had my radiation treatment Friday and I felt just fine until about noon Saturday. My hands were even getting better. Then I got very fatigued and nauseous for the rest of the weekend.

Radiation Day

Today I got treatment at the radiation oncology department after dialysis. There's not a lot to tell about the procedure: you lie down on the hardest table ever created and they swing a machine over you that looks exactly like an x-ray machine. They take a picture, grumble over it for a bit then draw marks on you. After they had taken several pictures (and finished their grumbling), the tech came in and told me I was all done. I'm just having the one treatment so there shouldn't be many, if any, side effects.
Two victories today: I discovered a way to clip my fingernails and I finally found a coin purse at Cliff's Variety.

Tests and shots

Not much to tell today. All my levels on my blood tests are OK. I haven't had to have a transfusion in weeks, which is a good sign. I got a shot of Aranesp. That always takes a while since they have to call the insurance company to get approval. Since it costs >$10,000 per shot, I'm OK with waiting. I laid out my pills for the day this morning and decided to take a picture. Here is one day's worth of pills. It includes my vitamins and supplements but not all the Oxycontin/OxyCodone.
Right after I took this picture, I spilled a whole bottle of pills on the floor.

Several day's update

It's gotten chilly here - it's in the 50s this morning. I had some hand pain Monday night along with some swelling so I went into the ER. They gave me some Dilaudid and let me stay and get some sleep. Things are better now.
I talked to Dr. Martin about it on Tuesday at the clinic and I think I wasn't taking the pain meds correctly.
I'm going to start with some more chemotherapy (Melphalan) this week if I can find a pharmacy that carries it.
Today was dialysis. My platelets and hemoglobin levels were good. Maybe that means my marrow has less myeloma. I get weighed before and after the procedure and it looks like they take 0.2 kg out of me each time. That's not very much. Maybe it's concentrated e-e-e-e-vil.

The Weekend

Hoo - it was hot yesterday. I left the house about 9 and there wasn't so much as a puff of air blowing. The bay to breakers footrace goes by about 3 blocks away and I was going to walk over and get some pictures of people in costumes as well as nekkid people. It turns out that there weren't any shady spots for me to stand in so I turned around and came back home. I thought there would be a nice breeze by the pool but no luck. I went back inside and sat under the fan.
Dialysis was this morning and then I had an appointment with the radiation / oncology team this afternoon. I'm going to go in Friday after dialysis for a radiation treatment. That is supposed to help my hands and also to knock out some of the myeloma.
It's cooler today - it's only 63 and windy now. The pool has been emptied for repairs. Good thing they didn't try that yesterday.

To the hospital and back home

Saturday and Sunday my hands were hurting a little and Sunday evening my left hand started hurting quite a bit and swelled up about twice the size. It was about midnight but I couldn't wait until morning so I rousted my friend Jon out of bed to drive me to the hospital. I went to the ER and they got me in fairly quickly and gave me some Dilaudid and sent me upstairs.
They took some labs and cultures to see what's what. They decided it was either a clot or an infection. They treated for both by removing my picc line and giving me some heparin.By Monday evening the swelling was mostly gone and the Oxycontin took care of the rest.
I wasn't done though as my problems moved from my left to my right hand. I was having a lot of pain and there didn't seem to be any reason for it. Even the Dilaudid wasn't doing a very good job.
The next day the pain management team came to see me and looked me over. They decided it was a neuropathic pain (as opposed to...). We got a sort-of-decent treatment using oxycodone and oxicontin. Since that is working OK, they sent me home and we'll discuss some other drugs like Cymbalta or Lyrica.
That's enough typing for now. The Bay to Breakers footrace is Sunday. The race goes by only two blocks away and it's going to be hot so I'll get you a bunch of pictures of the naked runners - I know how much you like them.

walking

Dialysis and platelets today. Nothing new there. My hands were hurting a bit so I had them give me some Dilaudid. I've noticed that my hands tend to hurt more when I've been laying on my back for a while. That tends to make me think that the growths near my spine are the culprits in my hand problems. I have an appointment with Radiation Oncology on the 18th and we're going to use some radiation to shrink the growth.
I did a lot of walking today. I walked down the the Van Ness Muni station and back for my clinic appointment. That's about a mile round trip. Then, this afternoon, I walked up to Whole Foods on California St. That's also about a mile and uphill to boot.

Everything's good

I just went into the clinic today to get blood tests and everything is fine. I talked to Dr. Martin and we're going tomtry something new. We're going to try a combination of low-dose Melphalan, Dexamethasone, and Revlimid. Dr. Martin has changed his mind and now thinks that a bone marrow transplant is still a possibility. I've been taking Neurontin to try to reverse the numbness in my hands. It's not working. The MRI I did showed a plasmacytoma near my spine and he thinks that may be the cause of my hand problems. I am going to get in touch with radiation oncology to see if they can treat and shrink it.

I took this picture from the clinic waiting room. UCSF is perched on a hill so the views are great. This is looking east towards downtown San Francisco. I didn't try to take a panoramic picture but if you look north you see the ocean, Golden Gate Park (especially the DeYoung Museum) and the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge's towers.

A bad day that ended well.

Tuesday evening when I got home from the clinic I noticed my legs were weak. I chalked it up to all the walking I did. I sat down on the couch to read my email and, when I got done, I found out I couldn't stand up. After pulling myself up with a bar stool and doing some leg lifts I was able to walk again. It turned out that anytime I sat in a low chair or laid down I couldn't get back up. I was able to get set up so I could do some leg exercises while holding onto a barstool and get my mobility back when I got up in the night. I went into the clinic this morning and told them about it. It turns out that my potassium was way too high (7) and another drug I take causes some muscle wasting. Between the two, that's what was keeping me down. So they gave me some medicine to bring down the potassium and they sent me to dialysis. Afterward I felt fine and, even though I had been laying down all three hours of it, I was able to get up and walk just fine. I need to do more walking to build up my leg muscles. My potassium is much lower now and everything is OK. They sent me home and I have to go into the clinic again tomorrow. So all's well that ends well.

Using my hands

Today was only clinic in the morning and I got two units of red cells. It doesn't sound like much but it takes ~4 hours.
I'm getting used to my hands. My dressing stick came yesterday and it makes buttoning my shirt and zipping my pants MUCH easier. Unfortunately, it doesn't work too well on the button on my Levis. I finally got my pants buttoned using channel locks and a screw driver. Fortunately, I don't absolutely HAVE to have my pants buttoned. If they're zipped up and the belt is tightened, it's fine. Lids and ziploc bags are difficult so I don't close them all the way. Same thing with my prescription bottles. I'm learning how to rearrange things to make it easier. Nothing goes in the front pocket of my jeans - I just can't fish it out. I've pared down the number of things I carry. I only carry my wallet, bus pass and keys. Coins are also out until I find a coin purse. I drop the coins and can't pick them up. I've been to two drugstores looking for a coin purse. I think I'll try some five-and-dime stores. I think I'll go to Cliffs in the Castro either this afternoon or tomorrow.
I need to get out and walk more. My legs are really weak. I can manage ordinary stairs but the steps in the back door on Muni are really steep. I barely got on the train and I had to haul myself up with my arms on the bus.

Yay!!! Disability checks came. $959 per week - good money.

Monday

Dialysis and platelets today. Got a refill for my oxycontin. Also my dressing stickcame so maybe I can wear a button-up shirt. Typing makes my hands hurt so I'm keeping this short.

Back to the ho-hum

Dialysis this morning and platelet transfusion this afternoon. Nothing unusual. It's cold and rainy outside but I have a fire going in the fireplace and a mug of hot cocoa so everything is just fine.