Feeling a Little Better
Still in the hospital. My temperature seems to have stabilized near normal, I'm coughing a little less, and blood oxygen (without supplemental oxygen) is up in the 94% range. However, pulse rate and respiration rate are unchanged and much higher than normal, so the jury is still out.
For the medically inclined: I was started on a Z-Pak (azithromycin) Monday, then in the hospital they added a cephalosporin IV antibiotic Tuesday. By today (Thursday) we didn't see much progress, so the hospital doctor finally talked me into oral Levaquin, dropping both of the others. That dose was this noon , so it's ...
Source: Myeloma Hope - August 1, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: pneumonia Source Type: blogs
Pneumonia Again
July 30, 2014
CRAP! Pneumonia certainly puts a crimp in marathon training. I have a marathon coming up in early september, with a good plan for ramping up carefully to a 20-mile long run three weeks ahead. That's what you do. Setting aside the obvious life-threatening aspect of pneumonia, however, at the very least it puts a big crimp in the training plan.
I've had pneumonia five times in my life now; three times it was viral, once bacterial (last February), and now as-yet undetermined. In February the high-power IV antibiotics took effect within a day, and got me out of the hospital in two days. This time I've been...
Source: Myeloma Hope - July 31, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: pneumonia Source Type: blogs
Runner's World Cover Contest
I have entered a contest by Runner's World Magazine to determine who will be on their December cover. I hope you will click here http://covercontest.runnersworld.com/entry/655/ and vote for me. You can vote every day, and that would be marvelous. The contest goes until mid-August.
You can help even more by spreading the word on your own facebook or twitter page - let's make it viral! Be sure to include the magic hashtag #RWCoverContest.
Thanks!
Don W (Source: Myeloma Hope)
Source: Myeloma Hope - July 25, 2014 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
We Miss Caroline Shallman
After a courageous three year battle with ovarian cancer, our sweet daughter-in-law Caroline died Saturday evening, July 12, 2014. Here is a link to her husband David's heartfelt goodbye message on caringBridge: http://goo.gl/SsKFF4
Information about the memorial service is listed here: http://goo.gl/Khg6bo
Here is her obituary in the Minneapolis paper: http://goo.gl/OAPuDo (Source: Myeloma Hope)
Source: Myeloma Hope - July 15, 2014 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
Medical Innovation Ecosystem
Some alarmists complain that the cost of new, innovative cancer treatments will soon bankrupt the health care system, arguing that we must find a way to limit patients' access to them. When we point out that the new treatments represent only 0.5% (one half of one percent) of health care costs, those people claim that it doesn't matter, because the expense of new treatments is increasing at an increasing rate, and we must do something.
Horsefeathers, I say. The sky is not falling. Instead, the system is working just as it should, exactly as designed. A company innovates, inventing a new treatment and, after years of tr...
Source: Myeloma Hope - June 9, 2014 Category: Cancer Tags: ASCO Medical Innovation Ecosystem My Life Is Worth It petition Source Type: blogs
My Life is Worth It
My wife, my daughter, and I were exhibitors at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) last weekend. At the invitation of ASCO, insurance companies and doctors were trying to invent a framework for limiting patients' access to the newest and most expensive cancer treatments, thereby providing those treatments only for those patients whose lives are judged worthy of them.
In the booth, I'm on the left
Unfortunately, we patients have been left out of that discussion altogether, so we were in a booth, making the point that patients should most definitely have a voice in any such discussions...
Source: Myeloma Hope - June 3, 2014 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
Pomalyst Study Cycle 80
Thursday, May 1, 2014, Pomalyst Study Cycle 80:
IgG was higher today than it has been for years, though only slightly. Last month IgG was 1270 mg/dL, now 1340 this month. However, M-Spike was 1.1 g/dL last month, down to 1.0 this month. 1.0 is right in the middle of the range of M-Spike for the last several years. So what are we to believe? Both of those changes are probably within the accuracy limits of the test anyway, so let's call it a draw; my myeloma is still stable.
For whatever it's worth, the Lambda and Kappa light chains didn't change too much either
I'm happy for another month, Pomalyst is ...
Source: Myeloma Hope - May 12, 2014 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
Cardiac Reserve
Thursday, March 6, 2014 Pomalyst Study Cycle 78:
My Doctor L and the crew of three CNP's were all unavailable for this visit to Mayo, so I saw Dr MG instead. In terms of the Mayo Clinic hierarchy, that's an upgrade. We had met before, but he had not seen me as a patient. We quickly agreed that the myeloms was still stable, and he in fact commented that the Pomalyst trial has been a home run for me. Indeed! Six years now, and still counting - I am so fortunate. IgG was up just slightly, but Lambda light chains are down a little, and maybe both changes are within measurement error anyway. No change. I am...
Source: Myeloma Hope - March 11, 2014 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
Good News from the Doctor
No pneumonia breath sounds, normal CBC, normal energy level. Although Doctor S showed me what he thought was still a slight shadow of the pneumonia remaining on the x-ray, the radiologist’s report says "resolution of pneumonia on prior x-ray, with lungs now clear." Hoo ha! Anyway, two doctors now have told me that the x-ray results always trail the actual resolution of the pneumonia, so even if Dr. S is right and a little bit shows, the actual pneumonia is probably gone.
Dr S gave me the go-ahead to do whatever I want to do, including a marathon in two weeks, guided only by my sense of fatigue. I...
Source: Myeloma Hope - February 17, 2014 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
Home Again
The hospital let me go yesterday afternoon. I slept well at home last night, and I feel much better. The fever is gone, and I have an appetite, but the cough remains, with the stuffy nose, and loss of energy. I'm still on an oral antibiotic, the same type that seemed to be working so well against the pneumonia in the hospital, and will see my regular doctor in a week. Path to full recovery.
I still don't know why the hospital staff was gowning up every time they came in the room the first day. I forgot to ask the doctor. They stopped the gowns after a day, though, and on the last day m...
Source: Myeloma Hope - February 10, 2014 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
Oops - Intensive Care
Saturday, February 8, 2014, Breaking News
My sweeties and I ran a lovely marathon in New Orleans last Sunday. On Monday we flew home, and by Tuesday morning I felt a scratchy throat. That came on fast, knocked me flat (weak, fever, aches, severe cough, nausea), and by Thursday it was diagnosed at Mayo as Influenza Type A. Yes, I did get the flu shot, last November. By Friday morning I was having trouble breathing and my local doc found pneumonia. He checked me into the ICU in Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, MN.
The hospital staff treat me with respect, lots of smiles, but they put on gowns, masks, and ...
Source: Myeloma Hope - February 9, 2014 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
ASH 2013 - Chronic Infection, MGUS, & Myeloma
Paper 3116: Chronic Infection, a Neglected Cause Of Development Of Monoclonal Gammopathy Of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) and Myeloma
According to this French paper, it is well known that certain chronic infections can cause lymphomas and chronic leukemia, because the infection annoys the cells until they ultimately make a mistake and become malignant (my words - theirs are undoubtedly more clinically correct but well above my pay grade). Apparently, something similar can happen to our plasma cells, turning them into malignant myeloma cells.
Indeed, the International Myeloma Foundation says "Several studies have...
Source: Myeloma Hope - December 11, 2013 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
ASH 2013 - Maintenance Matters
This study confirms again that they are correct - Rd thoroughly trounces MPT.
For those of us seniors with access to Revlimid, though, this study clearly demonstrates the advantage of Revlimid maintenance after initial therapy. It studied 1,623 newly-diagnosed myeloma patients over age 65 or ineligible for transplant, in three study arms: (A) Rd until disease progression; (B) Rd for 72 weeks or progression; and (C) MPT for 72 weeks or progression.
Some results for patients on continuous Rd versus those on 72-week Rd:
Median progression-free survival: 26 months versus 21 months.
Four-year overall survival: 59% ver...
Source: Myeloma Hope - December 11, 2013 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
ASH 2013 - Skip the Transplant
ASH is the American Society of Hematology, which has its annual meeting in early December each year, called the ASH Conference, or just ASH. I will be blogging on several topics, but this one, though it is "just" a poster talk and not an oral presentation, seems extremely important because it suggests a change in the standard of care for newly-diagnosed patients.
Paper 3180: Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone Alone Is Equivalent To Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone With Autologous Stem Cell Transplant In Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma: Interim Study Results Of a Randomized Trial.
The authors are from Columbia University...
Source: Myeloma Hope - December 10, 2013 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
Still Stable
Thursday, September 19, 2013, Pomalyst Study Cycle 72:
M-Spike was 1.0 g/dL this morning, where it probably should have been last month when it dropped to 0.9 for the first time in almost four years. IgG was almost unchanged, up less than 2%, from 1110 mg/dL to 1130, probably well within the measurement error for that test. In any case I trust the IgG result a little more than M-Spike, and I think the change from last month is negligible.
Lambda light chains are still above the reference range, barely, but Kappa light chains have dropped by almost half. I don't know what to think of that - it could be an ...
Source: Myeloma Hope - September 22, 2013 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
