January 1, 2012

Happy New Year to everyone.

November 20, 2011

Today is another 10 mg of dex day--probably will not sleep tonight.

Had a visit with O/H last Monday (11/14/2011). lab results of 11/7/2011 were in and can be compared to 10/7/2011 lab results. Kappa Light Chains dropped to 2.45 mg/dl from 2.82mg/dl(uppermost normal is 1.94mg/dl); obviously any drop is good news. M-spike dropped 10 1.3g/dl, which is a drop from the previous months value of 1.4 g/dl. Igg dropped to 1572 mg/dl from 1622 mg/dl. Uppermost normal Igg is 1554 mg/dl. In other words all of the three cancer makers dropped.

I continue to be off chemo (except for the twice weekly dex (10 mg twice a week)). Will go back to the O/H in early January.

October 27, 2011

Today is dex day; 10 mg before 9 am. I am now on two 10 mg doses per week. Well not exactly, I take 10 mg, then wait 4 days before I take another 10 mg. Thus it is two doses every 8 days. I find that I need 3 nights of good sleep before taking another dose.

October 19, 2011

I came across some old blood work that I had back in December 2004, before I was diagnosed with MM. Here are the results compared with my October 7, 2011 blood work; the first number is the December 2004 results; all results are in the same units so they can cross compared.

WBC 4.2 4.1
RBC 4.2L 4.8
HGB 15.2 16.0
HCT 42 46
Plt 231 227
glucose 96 (fast) 102 (non fast)
Creatinine 1.0 1.0
calcium 8.7 9.7
total protein 7.3 7.5

Not really much difference; while it may be possible that I had MM in December of 2004; there would have been no symptoms whatsoever.

October 15, 2013

Last week I noted that my Kappa Light Chains, collected on 9/23/2011, had been significantly elevated at 3.93 mg/dl (from 2.56 mg/dl on 8/12/2011). This was disturbing; however, the higher values came from a different lab. On October 7, the labs were repeated at the lab that I typically use. This time, the Kappa Light Chains were 2.82 mg/dl. This is not far different than the values that I had back on 8/12/2011 (2.56 mg/dl),3.26 mg/dl on 5/18/2011, and 2.68 mg/dl on 4/20/2011.

My Igg values increased to 1622 mg/dl; however, they were 1606 mg/dl on 4/20/2011.

My M-spike is now 1.4 mg/dl.

Everything appears to inching upward; but not as rapidly as the 9/23/2011 lab results suggested.

I am on dex twice a week (10 mg on Sat and Wed).

CBC values are ok wbc, total protein, creatinine,hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelet counts, neutrophils, and RBC are all in normal range.

Will see the O/H in early November; for the time being, no chemo (other than the dex) is scheduled.

October 7, 2011

Well it looks as if my 15 month reprieve from chemo may be coming to an end.

My Kappa Light Chains, which my O/H thinks are the best MM marker, increased from 2.56 mg/dl to 3.93 mg/dl. Lamda Light Chains were .56 mg/dl which also is an increase but the lower normal is .57 mg/dl.

The rise in the Kappa values is disturbing but at my O/H visit today, the following course of action was decided:
1. Immediately increase dexamethasome to 20 mg (10 mg, twice a week)
2. Do a new set of blood work to confirm if Kappa Light Chains actually are higher or whether the previous analysis is just an aberration.
3. If Kappa Light Chains actually are higher, then go back on chemo (probably Velcade on a once a week basis--higher dosages have caused me significant neuropathy).
4. If Velcade doesn't do much, consider using something different like Revlimid (Some chemo treatments become non-effective with time). On the other hand, if Velcade is reasonably effective, then continue and monitor.

I feel ok but hopefully I can nip this increase in the bud. I should have the lab results by the latter part of next week

September 17, 2011

It has been 2 months since I last posted; labs have been more or less the same and I feel good. Right now, I have been in Poland for the past 2 1/2 weeks. Will get back to USA on the 21st. Have O/H appointment in early October. Nothing much else to say for the time being.