I had a good vein on my left hand for IVs, and now I can’t use it anymore. The nurses in infusion say it’s too scarred. Every time they try to use it, something makes it not work. I just don’t know the proper medical terminology for what happened, but I’ll find out. It’s just a disappointment to not be able to use that vein anymore. Does it ever recover?
Category: General
I take dex on Friday night before I go to bed. That way, I can sleep through some of the first side effects I experience, like the sweating. I feel very speedy and headachey on Saturday. By Sunday, I’m winding down. On Monday I’m usually so tired that it’s hard for me to stay awake. I was taking a nap this afternoon, and became annoyed by my cat. She was crying and swatting at me. I tried yelling at her to leave me alone, but she ignored me and kept on. There was a reason. She had brought me a lizard and left it beside me while I slept. I get really creeped out by lizards.
Please try to buy goods that are made in the USA. Here’s a site that has listings of US made products. I had trouble using the search function. It didn’t work for me.
http://www.madeinusa.org/
I’m concerned about what’s happening with US companies. A hosiery mill near here had over 1000 employees a year ago and now has fewer than 500. They got squeezed by Wal-mart, who only wants to pay pennies for goods they want to sell. When our US companies can’t afford to produce the goods so cheaply, Wal-mart buys them from companies in China. Wal-mart used to make a big deal about selling products made in the USA, but, in order to increase their own profits and make the Waltons richer, they’ve abandoned that. Now they’re saturating ad time with sappy messages about how much they care about their employees and the communities where they have stores. We all know how much they care about their employees. There have been recent cases brought against them for discrimination against women. Their employees say that they keep as many of them as possible below full time status so they don’t have to pay benefits. Another story says they have been shaving time off employees’ paychecks through the electronic timekeeping system. There’s more. All you have to do is go to Google and search: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=walmart+greed. Yeah, I’m upset. I’m tired of seeing big companies run the country. It doesn’t matter which party is in office.
If you have broadband, take some time to watch this PBS Frontline: Tax Me if You Can. The whole program is viewable online. You’ll be surprised at the big companies getting away without paying any taxes. In fact, some even get huge refunds. One US bank received over $100 million. That’s OUR money, folks!
There’s now a refrigerator with a built-in TV. For about $3,200.00, you can be the first in your neighborhood (if you hurry) to have one of these. I’m sure they’ll be rolling out the doors of your local appliance store in record numbers. I saw an ad for this on television, and the pitch was that this refrigerator brings together the two things you love most: food and TV. I’m glad this thing is beyond what most families can afford.
The refrigerator is a product of LG.
Dr. O. told me about a few trials that are going to be open possibly in December for me. One has to do with anti-interleuken 6. The other, which I didn’t pay as close attention to, has to do with enhancing natural killer cell activity. I told him it sounds like a PS2 game!
I’m interested in the anti-IL-6 trial. He said it has been tested on patients with renal cell carcinoma. While it didn’t work for hem, the trial showed that the treatment was well tolerated. It would involve an infusion every two weeks. I’ll get more information from him and do more studying, then I’ll post it here.
My latest labs indicate that my serum IgA went down. I don’t know why or how, but I’m happy for it. I could tell there was going to be a change, because my total protein value was down for the first time in a while. It was at 6.7 mg/dL. The next day, I called in to see what my IgA was. Sure enough, it was 854 mg/dL.
This is an overview of the last four months. Normal IgA ranges from 40-390 mg/dL:
| Date | Value |
| 25 Aug 2004 | 854 mg/dL |
| 21 Jul 2004 | 946 mg/dL |
| 23 Jun 2004 | 1177 mg/dL |
| 19 May 2004 | 996 mg/dL |
I saw Dr. Comeau, one of the transplant doctors at UNC last week. This was my second time meeting him, although I don’t think he remembered me. We talked about what the program at UNC entails. It’s all online at http://www.mysct.org. One of the things we talked about is my sensitivity to drugs. I experience side effects at low doses. I had a time with thalidomide and am having difficulties with dex. One thing he told me is that before I go through high dose chemo, I have to lose 20-30 lbs. That will help reduce some of the toxicity, since the dose is determined by weight.