I had an appointment with my local oncologist today. We had a few minutes to talk. There’s not much going on in my treatment and my condition is fairly stable.

The steroids are my main problem. :( I have such a struggle trying to decide what to do. I could get off the steroids if I had a transplant. You might be wondering what’s the big deal about taking steroids. I suppose there are worse things. I’ve forgotten what I look like without the Cushingoid features.

I saw Dr. Orlowski at UNC today. My thalidomide has been stopped and I am now going to be taking 40 mg of dex once a week, followed by 20 mg the next day. We’re going to see how I do on that, and think about what will come next in the meantime. I’m just not ready for that transplant yet.

I had an abnormal ALT today. I’ve never had that before. He didn’t seem alarmed at all, so I won’t be either.

Dr. O. told me that he was talking to some people at Georgia Tech last night about a proteasome inhibitor they’re working on for solid tumors. He thinks it could be used with MM too. He said it would probably be a few years until anyone can use it.