Author: Beth

I was diagnosed with MM in January of 2003. I underwent various treatments, including thalidomide/dex, revlimid/dex, dex alone, a clinical trial of CNTO 328, and Velcade, Doxil and dex until late August, 2007, when I had an autologous stem cell transplant after high dose melphalan. I experienced what's known as a very good partial response (VGPR). Since then, my myeloma has been stable.

This is for my neighbor

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Who give his kids rides on the mower. I have personally known 2 kids who had very serious mower injuries. One was almost killed. One had a partial amputation of a foot. Imagine how easy this kind of injury is to prevent, just by following the rules below.

Change of Season Brings Lawn Mower Warning

SUNDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) — Each year in the United States, about 9,400 children are treated for lawn-mower related injuries such as lacerations, fractures and amputations of the fingers, hands, toes, feet and legs, say experts at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

“The No. 1 advice to parents is: Treat the lawn mower as hazardous equipment, not a toy. You don’t let a child play with an electric saw, and that’s exactly what a lawn mower is,” Carol Gentry, pediatric OR nurse manager, said in a prepared statement.

Of the lawn mower accident cases treated at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center between 2000 and 2005, 95 percent involved amputations that required reattachment or reconstructive surgery.

The Hopkins experts offer tips for preventing mower-related injuries:

  • Children younger than age 6 should be kept indoors while a power mower is being used.
  • No child younger than age 12 should use a walk-behind mower.
  • Children under age 16 should not be on riding mowers, even if they’re with an adult.
  • If you’re mowing and see a child running toward you, turn off the mower immediately. Children can fall and slip into the blade, especially if the grass is wet.
  • Wear protective goggles and closed-toe shoes when operating a mower or when near one.
  • Before mowing, clear the lawn of debris such as sticks and stones, which may get caught in the mower blades and be propelled out.
  • If someone suffers a mower-related injury, call 911 immediately and apply pressure to the wound to stop bleeding while you wait for an ambulance.
  • Buy mowers with a no-reverse safety feature that requires the operator to turn around and look behind before shifting the mower into reverse.

— Robert Preidt

SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Medicine, news release, April 9, 2007

Copyright ?? 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Mayo Clinic appointment

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I have a May 9th appointment to see Dr. Hayman at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. I’m looking forward to getting a fresh perspective on my case. In addition, I may get some testing that hasn’t been done before. I’m not sure what all will be done, but I was told to expect to stay 2-4 days. That’s not very helpful while making flight reservations, but I had to have a Saturday night stay anyway for a better fare.

My uncle Jon died this morning. He had stomach cancer, which had spread to his liver. His stomach had been removed months ago. When he found out he was sick, he was given 6 months to live. He survived 14 months. This was my dad’s brother. I admit I’m not sure how old he was, but I think he was in his late 60s. We aren’t a close family. I would guess that it’s been over 15 years since I even spoke to my uncle. Heck, I have a brother I haven’t seen or spoken to in something like 2 years (and we don’t even know where he is). We just don’t have the kind of bond that a lot of families have, extended or nuclear. It just occurred to me at this moment that I should probably call my dad tomorrow to see how he is. This was his brother. I don’t think they were close, but a brother is a brother. Hmm. Well, he’s only even come to see me once in the 4 years since I was diagnosed with myeloma.

Since I’m on a roll about families, I’m going to talk about the tragedy at VT. I can’t imagine the grief that the families and friends of the victims must be feeling. I hope they have the support they need. I think it’s somewhat shameful that this is all we’re going to hear about on TV news programs for a while. In my mind, it kind of takes away the dignity of the victims.

Can we stop things like this from happening? I don’t know. Parents, pay attention to your kids. If they have no friends, and are sullen and angry, something’s wrong. Get help.

Not that this is going to stop any future murders, but let’s at least require US citizenship for the purchase of firearms. Then let’s talk about why a citizen needs to have automatic weapons.

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Another bout of shingles

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According to the NIH web site,

Shingles (herpes zoster) is an outbreak of rash or blisters on the skin that is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox — the varicella-zoster virus. The first sign of shingles is often burning or tingling pain, or sometimes numbness or itch, in one particular location on only one side of the body. After several days or a week, a rash of fluid-filled blisters, similar to chickenpox, appears in one area on one side of the body. Shingles pain can be mild or intense. Some people have mostly itching; some feel pain from the gentlest touch or breeze. The most common location for shingles is a band, called a dermatome, spanning one side of the trunk around the waistline. Anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk for shingles. Scientists think that in the original battle with the varicella-zoster virus, some of the virus particles leave the skin blisters and move into the nervous system. When the varicella-zoster virus reactivates, the virus moves back down the long nerve fibers that extend from the sensory cell bodies to the skin. The viruses multiply, the tell-tale rash erupts, and the person now has shingles.

I’m taking Famvir for my shingles, 3 times a day, for 7 days. This outbreak has manifested itself on my right arm and hand. You’d think I would have known what it was, since I had it a few years ago. I didn’t though, and was glad I showed the doctor. I have been struggling with rashes from Velcade & Doxil, so I was inclined to ignore it. The difference was that this rash hurt. The other rashes had pretty much cleared up after I started to get decadron and benedryl in my IV with each treatment, thanks to Eric’s suggestion.

Famvir is something that’s prescribed for genital herpes, so I’m embarrassed when I go to pick my rx. Dumb as this is, I loudly ask the pharmacist if I need to take my shingles medicine with food.

There’s more on my blog about my experiences with shingles. and here:
More about shingles on this blog

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Unusual lab report

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I was shocked when I saw a copy of my most recent lab report. My IgA was at 1080 mg/dL! It was just 676 a few weeks ago. The m-spike a few weeks ago (3/20) was 0.7 g/dL. This time, there are two m-spikes. One is 0.44 g/dL and the other is 0.13 g/dL.

This IS from a different lab, but it’s about a 100 higher than the last test I had done through this lab.

4/3/2007

Test Result Ref. Range

IgG…….375……….694-1618
IgA…….1080……..68-378
IgM…….23…………60-263

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Blogs

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You know by now that I love blogs. :) I think they’re great. We just created a company blog for ConnectNC at http://weblog.connectnc.com. The picture in the header is one I took about a month ago at a park nearby. It’s even more beautiful now that the trees and other plants are in bloom. I’ll go out again this week to take more pictures.

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Lab report

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On Tuesday, I went to UNC with a friend. We often ride together, since we see the same doctor. I asked for a printout of may lab results, and here it is.

Test Name                Result     Flag     Units     Range
IGG, Serum               347        L        MG/DL     600-1700
IGM, Serum               <25        L        MG/DL     35-290
IGA, Serum               676        H        MG/DL     40-400
SPE Interpretation      The SPE pattern demonstrates a
single band of restricted mobility in the gamma region, which
may represent monoclonal protein.
Total Protein, SPE      7.5                 G/DL      6.6-8.0
Immunofix, Serum     Monoclonal component typed as IgA Lambda.
Concentration of monoclonal protein determined
by serum protein electrophoresis is 0.7 g/dL.
Kappa Free, Serum     <0.30      L        MG/DL     0.33-1.94
Lambda Free, Serum   1.29                MG/DL     0.57-2.63
K/L FLC Ratio             Unable to calculate the ratio due to a free light chain
concentration that is too low to accurately quantify.

After my friend’s appointment, we left, and were in the parking garage when she got a call on her cell phone from the doctor. He asked her to come back so she could be admitted. Her creatinine level had risen to 4.4 mg/dL! She has spent the last few days in the hospital at UNC, undergoing tests and receiving IV normal saline. Tomorrow is a kidney biopsy. It’s likely she’ll be able to go home on Saturday. We all hope her kidneys will recover quickly.

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