LIVING WITH MCL

As I posted a couple of days ago , Edie's latest treatment protocol (Velcade + Decadron) seems to be working. Maybe even better than previously thought. Not only has Edie's kidney function improve significantly, but her Freelight Chains have dropped dramatically, from 2600 a week ago to 62 now. That's still not in the normal range (<19), and her back is still hurting some, but it's a good indication. Even the neuropathy doesn't seemed to have gotten any worse. Of course neuropathy is still a concern, so the decision now is what to do next? Do another 21 day cycle which includes 4 more infustions, or do maintenance Velcade at a frequency as yet to be determined? Unfortunately there's no cookbook for this kind of thing. Everyone is different, and we all can react differently to the same drug(s), so a trial and error approach may be the best path. [tip]Wouldn't life be so much simpler if we were all the same, [and thought alike]![/tip] In any event, Edie has...

Just got the results of my latest blood work, and the numbers are nearly identical to last months results, and the month before that, and the month before that, and on and on.... Except for my spleen becoming more bothersome ,  nothing has really changed in the past 2 years. My hemoglobin is still hovering around 12 g/dL, platelets at 160-170 thou/mcL, and lymphocytes range from 85-95 thou/mcL. The only thing that seemingly varies significantly, from month to month, are the neutrophils (ranging from 2-6 thou/mcL), but when you consider all the lymphocytes crowding everything else out, the accuracy of that count is brought into question. You'd think I'd be elated, right? NOT! And that's despite the fact my beloved Steelers defeated the Jets Sunday night in the AFC Championship (football) game, and it looks like summer has finally arrived (only 7 months late) in southern California. Maybe it's just natures way of telling me to slow down (I am 9 years older than when I was...

Well, here it is a little after 6 AM Sunday morning, and I've decided not to ride. Seems I'm having an issue, only a cyclist would know about. It's not serious, but I've decided to rest anyways. Besides I have to get mentally prepared for the Jets-Steelers game this afternoon! So I was going through my Facebook page, and I came across this photo, that a buddy posted, of the first group picture of Lightning Velo, the bike club we started back in 1987/88. That's me top row, far left. WOW! We looked so young back then. :) What's amazing is, I actually remember all the names, and most of them are still around. They're just not all in the club any more (including myself), but I do still run into a few on the road occasionally. Those kind of things sure bring back some good [and old] memories. Wouldn't it be nice if we could bring back those care free days, when life seemed so much simpler?

It seems the second go around of Velcade plus Decadron is doing its job on Edie's myeloma. After just two treatments, her blood counts are improving, as is her kidney function. So all would seem well again. Unfortunately that is never the case. As I've learned many times in the past, there always has to be some bad that goes along with the good. If you remember from her first go around , it was the Velcade that caused Edie's peripheral neuropathy (PN), and now it seems see she is experiencing some additional PN, above and beyond what she already has been experiencing. Plus last night, after her 3rd round of treatment, was a particularly trying one. She woke up around 12 AM with the shakes, and was not feeling so well. So she took a Lorazepam, and went down stairs to see if she could sleep on the recliner. A few hours later, when I went down stairs to see how she was doing, she seemed to be feeling a lot better. The only problem now is she can't seem to stay awake for mo...

For the past couple of months I seem to be getting more and more fatigued (I know my cycling abilities have sure been lacking), and my spleen has been becoming more bothersome, especially during my long commute to work. It may just be this time of year (which I have never liked), along with the below normal temperatures and above average rain fall making me feel this way, but whatever the case, things are starting to get to me. Seeing how I was feeling during my last appointment, my oncologist put me on permanent disability. Initially I thought that is what I wanted. No more making that long commute 2 days a week, and no more having to deal with working for a publicly traded company, with all the little idiosyncrasies I never had to deal with before. But the more I thought about it, the more hesitant I became. There are benefits to working, if for no other reason than it breaks up the monotony of the everyday routine. Then there is the health insurance question.  I've grown comfort...

Are you as perturbed about junk mail as me? It seems that's all I get any more in the mail. I would even include it as another one of those pet peeves of mine. I especially hate it when my credit card companies sends me checks to use instead of my credit card, which I have to waste time shredding. And what's the point of that anyways? The reason I have a credit card is so I don't have to use checks. Well, if you are as aggravated as me about junk mail, then have I got a plan. It's actually not my plan. I got it from a friend, but that doesn't make it any less of a good idea. Now, whenever I get an offer for something in the mail, instead of throwing it directly in the trash, I take any documents which don't contain my name, and return them to that company in the prepaid envelope. [note]Obviously this won't work if there's not a prepaid envelope included. I'm not about to waste any money doing this, but it seems quite a bit of junk mail does include a...

Well, it may not have been the hardest thing I've every done, but today's annual New Years day ride certainly proved worthy of note. I made it out of the parking lot, and another 6 or so miles down the road just fine, but shortly after that, things became a little daunting as the pace picked up, and not being well positioned in the pack, I was quickly dropped. I managed to pick up a few other stragglers along the way, and eventually made it to Corona Del Mar where I met up with some other buddies for the long slug home. It seems the eight days of rain, and bitterly cold temperatures during the month of December may have finally taken its toll. (I barely managed 400 miles this month, and a lot of those miles were junk miles.) I seem to have lost all semblance of fitness. I guess I could blame it on learning yesterday a fraternity brother died suddenly on November 22nd (he was the same age as me) for feeling so lousy today. I could also attribute it to the cold and all the extra ...