Nick's Myeloma Blog

I created this blog so that I, and others, can track the progress of my Multiple Myeloma and my efforts to combat it. I am blessed to have my family and many good friends to help me defeat this and if you are reading this, you are likely included in that group. Thanks for your support -- with it, I will beat this. So for your edification and perhaps even amusement, read on!

Friday, May 28, 2010

All dressed up and nowhere to go...

So the answer to the question of "can you do a kyphoplasty on vertebrae that have already been through a vertebroplasty?" is ...

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Hello from Arkansas

Or should I say "howdy." We got here Tuesday night and ate a great pizza at Damgoode Pies. One of the things I miss around here...

Friday, May 21, 2010

Neuropathy and other notes

I noticed yesterday that for much of the day, I had a barely perceptible tingle in my feet. I first noticed it around noon and it persisted...

Monday, May 17, 2010

Some random observations

Hello folks. First of all, I got another chest-cold. My darling little son had a runny nose on Mother's Day as I was playing with him...

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Quick update with good news from my labs last week

Most importantly, serum immunofixation is back to: "No monoclonal proteins detected." Complete remission. Phew! I am prepared ...

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

White counts, side effect roundup, bad dreams, etc.

Howdy folks. So the white count mystery from last week is just that: a mystery. Yesterday they were back down at three-and-change (I'...

Thursday, April 29, 2010

An explosion of granulocytes!

So today I went back to Dr. GD's office for a Velcade infusion. They drew my blood, and came back with the CBC. Interestingly (or per...

Monday, April 26, 2010

No Alpha Lipoic Acid...and now I remember why.

I had taken some Alpha Lipoic Acid for a while, rather sporadically and without too much conviction, during the time I was on thalidomide. ...

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Tingly feet...

Well...I think it's starting to happen. I wouldn't call it painful, I wouldn't even call it distracting, but if I think about i...

Friday, April 23, 2010

Thai food and velcade do not mix...

I have come to the conclusion -- after two similar experiences eating spicy thai food from a restaurant that I used to love -- that either m...

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Helpful commentary from BJ

I fax the labs -- that my local doctor here has had for two weeks without telling me about them -- and an hour later I get a thoughtful resp...

A bit calmer now...so some perspective!

Thanks for the words of support in response to yesterday's little bump in the road. Having thought about it a bit, of course I wanted ...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Unsettling lab results, and GD exposed as a control-the-disease sheep in wolf's clothing!!

Argh. Went to get my Velcade today, and to see GD for my once-a-month visit. Very unsatisfying. I asked to get my lab results. He sai...

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Addendums (end-ums?)

1. Taking Senna Wednesday night too late. Wednesday AM seems like good starting point for next time. 2. My jaw / teeth are not falling ...

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Fine-tuning maintenance...

I've decided that my haphazard trial and error with respect to Senna (anti-constipation med) is a failed strategy and I need to be more ...

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Platelets and WBC back up

Quick report on a few lab things. This last Tuesday, platelets were up to 85 from 65 the week before. I went off Revlimid per my usual sc...

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Interesting news from the Myeloma Beacon

There are plenty of blogs out there that report new developments in traditional and alternative cancer therapy and research. My friend Pat ...

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Hello to two new friends

Still sick here -- inconvenient but not the end of the world. I received an wonderful email last night, passed on by my wife from my wonde...

Thursday, March 25, 2010

I'm alive and (reasonably) well...just been buried at work! So an overdue update!

Hey there folks. Sorry to vanish on you for a bit -- I've been working 18 hours a day, 7 days a week basically for the last two weeks. ...

Friday, March 12, 2010

Bone marrow biopsy blemishes and IVIG update

Hello there folks! Two unrelated little things, which we'll do in reverse order. I will be getting IVIG a week from Tuesday, along w...

Monday, March 8, 2010

Feeling better, and some reflections...

Happy Monday, my friends. First, thanks to those of you who were kind enough to write to check up on me! I want to emphasize that when I...

Friday, March 5, 2010

Did somebody get the name of that bus...

Hello folks. I have been in gastro-intestinal hell for the last 36 hours. A hell-spawned conflagration of extremely spicy Thai food for di...

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Quick update

Chest cold is finally starting to resolve. My white count yesterday was at 4 -- a measly 4. That's basically below normal, and this in...

Thursday, February 25, 2010

The ongoing saga of this chest-cold...

Tuesday night, when I returned from dinner, I felt pretty lousy. I realized I was running a fever. It was getting worse. I hadn't had...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

IVIG to the rescue?

Got a call from one of the nurses at Arkansas today. I think she must have called the house first and spoken with Jill, who probably report...

Spoke too soon...

Lying on the couch watching some TV last night, all of a sudden a stabbing charlie horse in the bottom of my left foot. There must be somet...

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Oh, and thanks to Sean J for the Magnesium tip!

FYI, I have been trying to keep hydrated and also take magnesium for the leg cramps...and so far, so good. A couple of false alarms last ni...

Sorry to drop off the face of the Earth!

Well, work has been very demanding for the last two weeks. It is good to be back and fully engaged, but it has been a constant stream of wo...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A quick response from BB on leg cramps.

I emailed him last night to tell him there's an error on his website (in one place it says Myeloma is not curable!) and I mentioned in p...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Thin walls at GD's office...

Got my second infusion of Zometa today. Hopefully when I go back to Arkansas in May, all those bone lesions will be gone. Velcade was upped...

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Two incidents of acute discomfort, or, OWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! !#!&@**#!!!!!!! (and a Velcade schedule comment)

Hello folks. Well, sadly the old portacath pains are back, entirely as a function of poor technique on the part of this nurse at GD's pl...

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Graphs, first in a series: Monoclonal protein

Sorry to take so long with these, folks, but I've had to dig around for some of the data. Once I got to Arkansas I was pretty meticulou...

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Test results in, and the are GOOD!

Hello people. Getting ready to depart Little Rock. It was a very successful little trip! First, my test results, furnished rapidly, in deta...

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Return to Arkansas, part 1...or I hope God has a good sense of humor!

Dateline: Little Rock. Jill and I are in the Capitol Hotel, where we arrived on Sunday evening. It's about a year ago to the day that w...

Saturday, January 23, 2010

It really stinks having a cold with a suppressed immune response...

I've been up all night, coughing every fifteen minutes. Not quite as bad (in fact nowhere near as bad) as when I got out of the hospita...

Friday, January 22, 2010

Weird blood cells...

So in preparation for what's gonna be a really cool series (I hope) of graphs and charts on this blog I've been entering all my bloo...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

When it rains, it pours. Or: The Old Grey Mare. Or: Interesting numbers on Velcade.

We are getting a Old Testament-style storm in LA right now. In one sense it's good because the state needs precipitation. But it's...

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

More phantom aches...

It's thankfully fading as I type this, but I awoke this morning with a dull pain (very minor, but I am attuned to these things) in my ba...

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

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 ...

Monday, January 4, 2010

Immunofixation negative still...but what about the shoulder?

Okay, so I managed to PRY out of the people at GD's office that my test as of 12/22 was still immunofixation negative, so that's goo...

A pain in the shoulder...

Well, it's a sleepless night, not due to the dex. I played an atypically bad round of golf on my last day off for the holidays. I made ...

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Nick: Los Angeles, CA

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