Duke – Beth Morgan Multiple Myeloma Treatment Blog

Some lab values

Beth 28 November, 200728 November, 2007 0

I got the results of the tests done Monday at Duke. The full report was faxed to my office, and I haven’t seen it yet, but here’s what I have so far.

M-Spikes (I have two m-spikes)

Last month: 0.19 and 0.12 g/dL (Total is 0.31 g/dL)
This month: 0.16 and 0.22 g/dL (Total is 0.38 g/dL)

Immunoglobulin Profile

Last month: IgA 374 mg/dL Reference: 46-287
This month: IgA 465 mg/dL Reference: 46-287 (up 91)
Last month: IgG 709 mg/dL Reference: 588-1573
This month: IgG 603 mg/dL Reference: 588-1573 (down 106)

I have July and August here. Needless to say, I was fervently hoping for a drop in the IgA and an increase in the IgG. The one good thing is that the IgG is still in the normal range, where it has never been since I learned I had MM. It was usually below 300 mg/dL.

Can someone give me a good explanation about why I have two m-spikes? I’ve asked doctors about a zillion times, and I have either forgotten what they told me or didn’t understand it well enough to even remember.

Categories Cancer, Duke, Durham, Life, Myeloma, Southern Pines, Stem Cell Transplant Tags cell, Duke, IgA, IgM, MM, Myeloma, SCT, spike, stem, transplant

Hair Update

Beth 26 November, 200717 September, 2013 2

I thought I’d give a visual progress report of my hair growth. Here’s a picture I took today. You can compare it to one I took on October 13, 2007.

Hair growing back after stem cell transplant

Kind of weird, huh? And, not too attractive. My hair started to fall out in September, after I had high dose chemo (melphalan) on August 28th. Some spots still look bald, even though there’s a covering of very fine, nearly invisible hair.

I had a follow up appointment at Duke today. I won’t have any results until Wednesday afternoon. Not anything important, anyway. I didn’t even bother getting a copy of my CBCs. Dr. Long just told me they were completely normal. Throughout my entire MM experience, my CBC’s have hardly ever been anything but normal.

Categories Cancer, Duke, Durham, General, Life, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant Tags chemo, Duke, hair, melphalan, Myeloma, SCT, Stem Cell Transplant

One Month Check-up

Beth 10 October, 2007 1

Tomorrow I’ll have my one month check-up. It will have been a month since I was released from the Duke SCT Clinic. I feel pretty well, with no major complaints. I’m filling a jug for them, and will have blood drawn when I get there. Aside from CBCs, it will probably be at least a few days before I get any results.

Categories Cancer, Duke, Durham, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant Tags Cancer, Duke, MM, multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant