December 2012

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and your are having a blessed time preparing the Christmas.

I was back at the doctors office Friday for my one year follow up tests for my stem cell transplant that was done July 2011. I had a few blood tests, a full skeletal survey and a 24 hour urine test. We only have a few of the blood tests results back and those numbers are looking good. I will get the rest of the test results sometime next week. My doctor is not planning on a bone marrow biopsy unless any of the tests come back with poor results.

The doctor actually said he has nothing to say, everything was looking very good so far. I had a list of questions (as always) so we had plenty to talk about. One bit of good news is Rush University is opening an office in Lisle, which will be much closer than going into Chicago. My doctor will be seeing patients on Fridays in Lisle, which will be perfect for me. The facility in Lisle will be able to do all the needed tests also.

I have decided to start taking an herbal supplement by the name of curcumin, I have read about this supplement as having an anti-myeloma affect along with boosting memory and mood. I feel at times I suffer from Chemo Brain, though not sure my doctor believes in chemo brain. His take on it was some people believe such a thing exists and others do not. He stated people have had MRIs of there brain and no changes have been found. He attributes memory issues could be related to the stress from the overal diagnosis, transplant and job related. Either way I want to start taking Curcumin, a lot of people in the Myeloma community believe strongly in the supplement. I wanted to start with 2 grams a day, but my doctor stated he did not want me to take more than 1g a day, at least until my next blood test. Some people with myeloma take over 8g a day.

I mentioned job stress above, there is an added job stress above and beyond normal working. Let me just say, if you are ever diagnosed with a terrible disease (God forbid), don't tell your employer anything besides the fact you are ill or you need surgery... By law you don't have to tell them anything and by law they cannot ask. Some free advice, my Chirstmas gift to everyone.

Merry Christmas and wishes for happiness and health for everyone in 2013.