Another day in GD's chair...

Hello folks.

Got my Velcade and a brief visit with GD today. Again, no review of my labs with me and I didn't get a copy. I will make an issue of this next time I see him -- today, he had laryngitis and between that and my rough day at the office I didn't feel like dealing with it.

I managed to see enough to note the following:

* White count is low at 3.7, but not alarmingly low.

* Hemoglobin is 12.7, again just a little low, but not alarmingly so.

* Platelets are back up to 96 after dipping to 89 last week.

I start my week off Revlimid today so these numbers should all have a chance to recover somewhat for next week. I noted to GD that I might discuss dose reduction with BB when I see him week after next, while also commenting that I know BB was considering INCREASING rather than decreasing my Velcade. I don't want to screw up the results of the therapy, since it has been successful. But I'd really like my counts a little higher if that's possible.

I also saw that RDW, that strange marker that I was so happy to see in the normal range, remains high at 14.6. Not crazy high, but high. I was going to ask GD about it...but then he didn't give me any time for questions and I know he'd probably just wave me off anyway. I'll ask BB about it instead.

We discussed my shoulder, which hasn't hurt in two weeks. GD did not think it was recurrence, since when recurrence happens the pain usually is persistent and doesn't go away, or if it does it comes back more sharply pretty quickly. He also didn't seem to think it would be from healing of the bones. The MRI should tell all -- and if it doesn't, I'm sure Bart will order a PET that I'd prefer not to need, all things being equal. We'll see what the MRI says. Hopefully the lesion is healed and that will take care of it. Then we can chalk it up to being over 40 and call it a day.

A number of people with whom I've spoken over the past weeks are headed to Arkansas for testing and potential treatment. If they are reading this, good luck and I hope to see you when I'm there!