Shingles and cataracts...

Hello all -- hope you are enjoying your weekend. Just a quick update.

The pain from the shingles is still there, but it appears to be improving ever so slightly. I didn't need Vicodin yesterday or this morning. Hopefully that bodes well for the pain going away when the shingles do, rather than lingering forever.

I contacted doctor SF at City of Hope about the portacath because rather than seeing a general surgeon for it, I thought a cancer center that is used to placing and accessing these things thousands of times would be the best way to go. His office is setting up a consult, but I won't be able to do anything about the portacath until after my followup in Little Rock on the 14th-16th of this month. I honestly don't know if I want them using the portacath versus just sticking stuff in my arms. The left side of the portacath doesn't hurt any longer, but the right side is sensitive to the touch. It's not infected -- there's no redness or anything like that, I have no fever or other signs of infection, and I've had a doctor and three nurses look at it to make sure. It's something going on with the placement.

Lastly, I had mentioned before that the dex impacted my vision. It more or less rebounded when I went off the dex, but I do feel there could be some mild lingering affect. Right now, for example, my visual acuity isn't that great. Dr. GD told me Dex causes cataracts (yet another issue with that horrible drug). I need to make an appointment with an opthomologist to get that checked out. I also called GD's office yesterday to get the SPEP information (M-spike data) from my blood work last week, but he was gone and they won't let the lab technician give me results over the phone. So I have to wait until Tuesday to find out. Hopefully it will be absolutely zero this time -- it will be a big reading, for sure. If it's gone, then I'm in complete remission and I'll hopefully have favorable progress on the bones being repaired when I get the PET and MRI in ten days. If it's back, then I either haven't achieved remission, or worse yet I've achieved it and lost it -- I don't want to think about those consequences because I think they are exceedingly unlikely.

Be well, all of you!