April 2011 - Induction - Cycle 3 - Day 1

Well here we are at cycle 3. We met with the doctor at 1:00 today and I was not sure what to expect at my doctors appointment and was a bit nervous which my blood pressure reading validated this fact; though by the time I received my treatment by blood pressure was back to normal. I also gained 1 pound, which I was told not bad with being on steroids. I was also cleared to play tennis, jog and do pretty much anything I wish, the doctors word of caution was to not hit take an injury to the head. I still need to stay away from sick people, guess who was sick today, you got it the doctor. Wasn't sure if I should have put on mask or ask him to, there was no hand shaking today he said he will shake my hand twice next visit.

Here are test results...Drum Roll Please...Kidney and liver functions are stable. The 24 urine analysis showed no proteins, this number was 4gm when I started and was one of the factors leading to my diagnosis. I said to the doctor that is good news, he corrected me and said that is excellent news, the disease is not detectable in the urine anymore. I asked if I was in complete remission, he did not go as far to agree with this statement, yet. The doctor also did a Freelite test last week, which he did not have the results yet, this test tests for free light chains (fragments of monoclonal proteins) in the blood. This test originally was high (Lambda Light Chain) with a result of 7,350mg/L when the normal range is 5.71 to 26.30. For my next visit he is ordering a Serum Protein Electrophoresis test to check for monoclonal proteins in the blood, similar to the urine test but checks the blood; this test was originally normal. But I believe the reason the test was normal was due to the fact the kidneys were dumping the proteins into the urine. Since the urine shows no indication of the proteins he wants to make sure they have not entered into the blood (I was not smart enough to ask this question when we met with the doctor, but it dawned on me when I was writing the blog entry). We hope all of these tests provide the same result as the urine test.

So what does all this mean? My local doctor will be talking with the doctor that will be doing the stem cell transplant to see if Cycle 4 of treatmenst is needed. If they agree Cycle 4 is not needed then they will be moving up the stem cell transplant. I kind of think why not continue with Cycle 4 to maybe blast out a few bad cells that might be undectible in tests. Though that might just be me conscious trying to put the stem cell transplant off for four more weeks.

Blood test results were pretty good also.

WBC	4.2	Up
Grans	3.8	Up - Almost to 2003 Levels
Hemoglobin	14.2	Up
Platelets	274	Up - Past 2003 Levels

Thanks agains for all the prayers, cards, thoughts and positive energy.