I had 3 big slugs of Cytoxan at the start of October (the 5th). Almost 3 grams IV, 3 times, every 3 hours. It caused my hair to fall out, but not ALL of it. I’d estimate that about 95% of the hair on my head fell out. I still have eyebrows, still have to shave my legs and have hair on my arms. The sides of my head look bald, and the top has a little bit of inch long hair. I’ve never like having short hair, so this is going to be different for me. I wear a hat when I go out.
I got a call from one of the nurses at my doctor’s office. All of my lab results aren’t back yet, so I don’t know my m-spike or serum IgA. I’m supposed to call back on Monday to find out. However, they did say that I’m “extremely iron deficient” and are calling in a couple of prescriptions for me to take. I’ll let you know what they are once I pick them up. Gosh. No wonder I’m tired.
Yesterday I saw the doc and had labs drawn. My Hgb was 8.5, and I’ve been feeling pretty washed out. I got a shot of Procrit, and have another one scheduled for next Wednesday. I’m hoping it will help. My platelets and WBC are in the normal range now. In fact, the platelets are higher than they’ve ever been. The doc said the RBC is slower to come back.
I also got a flu shot. If you’re supposed to be getting annual flu shots, it’s that time!
Tomorrow I’ll be able to call in to see what the other lab results are. Everything should be back except the free light chain assay.
Please consider donating to the International Myeloma Foundation. Click on the link at the left.
The catheter is out now. I had a real shower today, without having to worry too much about getting the dressing wet. I asked if I could keep my Neostar, and the doc said it was ok. I’ll take a picture of it for you to see. Unfortunately, my camera doesn’t work, and I need a new one. I’m still feeling weird about going places without hair, but I’ll get used to it and then get a new camera!
I get to have my triple lumen catheter removed on Monday! I think I hate this thing more than anything I ever hated before. I constantly obsess about infection. I hate that it limits my ability to have a thorough shower. It kept me from swimming during the last warm days at the end of summer. It also limits the amount of exercise I can get, because perspiration makes the dressing loose. There’s only been a weekly scheduled dressing change, and that really doesn’t seem good enough.
Have you ever had that bone pain from taking neupogen? I took 900 mg a day by injection for 11 days. I didn’t notice anything until about half way into it. I had a persistent headache. A few days later though, I had shooting pains in my back, ribs, sternum and hips. I have a prescription for Percocet to try to help. I’m hoping that I’ll be back to normal in a day or so.
Today I started the stem cell harvest process, and I just got word of today’s count: 7 million. We’ll go one more day (tomorrow) so there are enough for 3. Since I expect to live a long time, I want to have those extras on ice for the future. We’re getting them all now so that I won’t have to worry about what future treatments might do to my ability to harvest more later. It’s a big relief to have this done.
We (doc & I) disagree on letting me have a break in treatment for a few months though. He wants me to have my transplant on the 30th, and I want to wait. I called Dr. Durie to talk about this a little, and I know how to present my case to my doctor here now.