Author: Beth

Feeling “ungood”

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Zometa IVI’m feeling ungood today.  Maybe even part way doubleplusungood. I had Zometa yesterday, so this could explain some of it. I usually feel a little bit flu-ish the day after a Zometa infusion. I’ve had a few days of feeling sneezy and nose-runny, and I feel very tired.  I think I just need to get several nights of good sleep.

Here’s a picture of the Zometa IV to satisfy your curiosity. I have 250 ml saline with it, over about 45 minutes. My onc now has wireless, so I took a computer with me yesterday so I could get a little work done.

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Latest electrophoresis, proteins and free light chains

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Here are my latest results.

Specific Proteins

Test Name    Result       AB    Normal Range   Units
IGG          466          L     600-1700       MG/DL
IGM          31           L     35-290         MG/DL
IGA          408          H     40-400         MG/DL

Electrophoresis

The SPE pattern demonstrates two bands of restricted mobility in the gamma region.

Immunofix, Serum

Monoclonal component typed as IgA Lambda. Concentration of monoclonal protein determined by serum protein electrophoresis is 0.4 g/dL.
Monoclonal component typed as IgA Lambda. Concentration of monoclonal protein determined by serum protein electrophoresis is 0.3 g/dL.
*Suggestive of a monoclonal component typed as IgG Kappa. Concentration of monoclonal protein is too low to accurately quantify.

* This is new! Previously, I’ve only ever had just two m-spikes. That’s not enough?  I vaguely remember seeing this on one other report, so maybe it’s something that comes and goes.  In any case, it’s not enough to measure, so I’m not alarmed.

Serum Free Light Chain Assay

Test Name                  Result     AB  Normal Range    Units
Kappa Free, Serum          0.1380     L   0.33-1.94       mg/dL
Lambda Free, Serum         1.24           0.57-2.63       mg/dL
K/L FLC Ratio              0.1113     L   0.26-1.65       mg/dL

Still, no myeloma treatment for over two years.

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MRIs and Mutliple Myeloma and gadolinium, oh my!

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Margaret’s blog has a few posts written about the use of gadolinium as a contrast agent.  I think it’s important for MM patients to know about this.  You can the read posts at her blog.  These are all the posts containing the word, “gadolinium.”
»The gadolinium used in MRIs makes myeloma cells proliferate

In other news, there’s not much going on.  Last week I got to participate in a local radio show with two of Moore County’s finest, Detective Sgt Donnie Shingleton and Sgt Tim Cameron, of the Moore County Sheriff’s Department.  The topic was home security, which included discussions about fraud.  My part was Internet fraud.  My words didn’t really come out right!

Ticket to Ride by Ed GormanI start a creative non-fiction class tomorrow, thanks to my sister, Rachel.  She’s encouraged me to git me some more learnin’ so’s I kin write better.

Monica and I are taping for another radio program this morning.  I’ll let you know how that one turns out.

How many of you bought Ed Gorman’s new book? If you haven’t gotten it yet, now’s a good time.  » Ticket to Ride by Ed Gorman.   He wrote something to me on the dedication page!

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Required reading

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I received the latest Sam McCain Mystery from Ed Gorman in today’s mail! It’s called “Ticket to Ride.” There was a Post-it® Flag on one of the pages, so I quickly opened the book to see what Ed wanted to draw my attention to. It was a lovely message for me on the dedication page! I’m deeply touched by this, so I think every one of you should buy a copy of the book.
For your convenience, I’m including an easy way to purchase the book right here. Please buy two: One for yourself and one as a gift for a family member or friend! It’s also available for Kindle and in large print.

 

Ticket to Ride

1965: America’s favorite small-town detective must solve the murder of two old friends against the backdrop of America’s cultural revolution. For small-town Iowa lawyer Sam McCain the year 1965 is not a sweet one. His father is gravely ill. His elitist boss is just now coming out of rehab. The brilliant lawyer he’d hoped to start a relationship with has gone back to her husband in Chicago. And first young soldier from Black River Falls returns home from a strange place called Viet Nam. In a coffin.

Against this background McCain tries to enjoy himself during the long Labor Day weekend party the town sponsors every year, reuniting with several old friends who appeared throughout the first six novels. Now that they’re all in their late twenties some of the old grudges and rivalries seem silly—until two of them are murdered for what seems to be a motive buried in the past.

With the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan irritating those over thirty—and the boys in long hair and girls wearing blouses without bras irritating people even more—Sam McCain is forced to realize that his old world, along with the entire country’s, is about to end forever.

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Sinus infection rerun

After I took the 5 days’ rx of Levaquin for my sinus infection, I felt fine for a few days. I think I need to stop swimming for a while though, because the sinus infection is back again. Maybe it never was really all the way gone. Anyway, from what I’ve been reading, I’ve gathered that swimming is bad for someone prone to sinus infections. Not that I’ve ever been prone to them, but, when you have myeloma, you may find yourself suffering from various infections that never bothered you in LBM (life before myeloma).

Here’s some good info on sinusitis:

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/sinusitis.jsp

http://www.sinuspharmacy.com/sinusitis.html

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My Labs

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Sorry! I haven’t been very good about keeping up my labs. I’ll put relevant info into the main blog when I have it.

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Osteopenia

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I had my annual skeletal survey a few days ago. I have osteopenia! That wasn’t there last year. The doctor says it can be from the MM or from the steroids. I don’t have any other details, like where it is.

Osteopenia = decreased bone mineral density, but not as severe as osteoporosis.

From http://www.rad.washington.edu/mskbook/osteopenia.html:
It can be fairly difficult to diagnose osteopenia accurately on plain radiographs. First of all, plain films are hideously insensitive to changes in bone mineral. One must lose 30 – 50 % of the bone mass before it can be detected on a plain film.

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