Beth Morgan Multiple Myeloma Treatment Blog
My life as a myeloma patient for almost two decades
Life
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
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.
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.
I have hives again from Velcade. This time there are more, and they itch! When my sister called to ask if I wanted anything while she was out shopping, I asked her to get some Benedryl for me.
I???m watching ???Dirty Jobs??? on the Discovery Channel. I just love Mike Rowe.
I also really like ???The Worst Jobs in History,??? but I watch that more for the content, rather than the host. Tony Robinson is no match for Mike Rowe. If they had a fight, Mike would win. :)
Researchers found people use an initial weeding out process to deal with the minefield of health information of variable quality available.
However, this tends to mean they quickly eliminate most NHS and drug company websites, they said.
The study was funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council.
| People don’t have the patience to scroll through pages in order to find something useful Professor Pamela Briggs Northumbria University |
They found that many websites were dismissed at quite amazing speeds.
Lead researcher Professor Pamela Briggs, from Northumbria University, said: “One thing that really put people off was advertising, so people clicked off drug company websites straight away.
“Generally, the medical information on drug company sites is very accurate but people question the authors’ motivation and agenda.
“The issue of impartiality is quite crucial in building trust.”
Personal stories
NHS websites fared little better. Often these were rejected because the first page participants were directed to was a portal or they had too much background or generic content.
Professor Briggs said: “People don’t have the patience to scroll through pages in order to find something useful.
“Ease of access is so important.”
The research also found that even if a site made a favourable first impression, it was unlikely to keep the attention if it did not include personal stories to which the reader could relate.
Many were specifically drawn to sites where they could read about the experiences of other people who have the same problems and concerns.
But Professor Briggs warned that the tendency to trust sites with personal testimonies from like-minded peers was potentially flawed, as it could reinforce unhealthy behaviour patterns.
Dr Paul Cundy, a GP and member of the British Medical Association’s IT committee, said there was also a danger that personal testimonies were planted by drugs companies.
He said drugs companies had been known to sponsor self-help sites which appeared at first glance to be independent.
“People should be encouraged to gather information from the web, but they should then take it to a doctor to discuss face-to-face rather than immediately taking action based on what they have found,” he said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/6422157.stm
Published: 2007/03/07 00:13:29 GMT
Note from Beth: Help us to build a community – sign up for your free blog at www.healthblogs.org
I just finished watching Gallipoli, with Mel Gibson (from 1981). That movie makes me think of Chris Hollyer. Each year, on ANZAC day, he would write to the list about the meaning of the day to people in Australia and New Zealand. We’ll have to maintain the tradition for him.
If you’re interested in reading health news, and would like one place to go to get the headlines and discuss the news, try http://digged.healthblogs.org/. I’m sort of addicted to news, so I hang out there a lot now. If you know of any good RSS newsfeeds for health, let me know.
Does anyone know what the lifetime limit is for Doxil? That’s something I need to look up and stay aware of. I looked at my chart last week, and thought I saw that I’m getting 65 mg/m2. The usual dose for this regimen is 30. I need to see the doctor and make sure. I could have misread something!