Transplant B, Day -1

Back from the final round of Melphalan, and the last dose of Dex for this go-round (thank God, as I'm bloated and up 11 pounds and it's doing everything from making my eyes unable to focus to making my ankles too big for my pants) and so with the exception of the Thalidomide this evening, that will be the last of the poison for round three of chemo. Hurray!

I have minimal side effects other than exhaustion -- I feel like I've been hit by a bus. That's to be expected. Red blood counts fell to 11.1 and I hope they don't go any lower -- I got used to them being up around 13.5 and it felt good in that range. Whites are hanging on in the 7.X range, and platelets are at 159. So no crash yet from the chemo, but we know it's coming.

Potassium dropped below the low-end of normal (3.5) to 3.2, so they put me on two of those infusers, but otherwise it was an uneventful trip to the 7th floor. I got my second and final dose of Velcade this time around, which I was warned could cause constipation, so I'm going to add back the second daily Senna pill that I just yesterday removed from my regimen. I note from my previous posts that the GI tract gave way pretty nastily on day +4, so I was hoping to wean myself off that, but the tightrope walk between constipation and its converse is a tough one to tread.

The Lovinox hurt, but it's the last one, so that's that.

Now I'm going to crash, much like the Lakers did in last night's debacle against Denver.


ADDENDUM: Some of my friends get a kick out of following the more low-brow elements of my fight, so to you guys (and you know who you are) I am carrying around another jug of urine, to be deposited at the lab tomorrow. Hope this makes you happy.