Thursday, December 31, 2009

Coming Soon!

Ok so the holidays have been crazy and I'm migrating to a Mac (thank you Santa!).

Needless to say I've been busy. Just had my visit following Cycle3 and things look great. I have a lot more details but have our annual NYE party tomorrow night so expect more details in the next few days. I hope everyone can stand the wait (actually, I'm not worried about that - you'll get the update when I post it, so there! ;)

Happy New Year to all!


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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Need O+ if you can help!

As I mentioned in a previous post, a close rugby buddy of mine was diagnosed with AML (acute myeloid leukemia). Unlike my disease where they are attacking the proteins with an intention to harvest and then transplant my own cells, he's in a position where a transplant of his own cells is not an option. He's also having to go thru a lot more with respect to chemo, etc.

The biggest issue though is blood and platelets. A bit of a lesson. I have O- blood, sometimes referred to as babys blood as it can be used for almost any blood type. My friend Kieran has O+ blood which means he can only get O+ blood, which isn't readily available. Hence this request.

Anyone in the NYC area with O+ blood that can donate please do. I've included a link below from NYU that was provided by Kieran's sister. Blood and platelets are needed but you must be O+.

Thanks, in advance, for anyone that's able to help!

Patient: Kieran Holohan
NYU Hospital 31/1st
The following link should give you all the details necessary. You can request the donation go right to Kieran. If not needed at the time it will be given to someone else - which is how Kieran will be able to spend Christmas with his family, thanks to the blood of others. Please help if you can!
http://www.med.nyu.edu/patientcare/guide/blood-donations.html


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Friday, December 11, 2009

Hot off the presses

Just got my labs back:

Calcium - 8.4 (just below the minimum norm value - where previously I was worried about it being high)

Total Protein - 6.3 (6.9 is the minimum, norm value so now my protein counts are low! From Oct'08 they've been 9 and above)

IGA - now this is where the fun starts. *** 276 ***. Yes, 276 - my IGA COUNT IS NORMAL!

What does this mean? Beats the F out of me but I'm celebrating tonight!


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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Let's Reiterate - Get a Check Up!

Ok - so I happened to look at my blog and realized, "holy sh^t - I write alot." Some of you have reached out to my parents or others and have told me you've enjoyed my viewpoint (some have even said I come across as funny!) There are some things I've written that are relevant to the moment and there are others that should be repeated - and here's where I get on my soap box (yes, again!)

GO TO THE DOCTOR - GET AN ANNUAL PHYSICAL.

For those with the attention span of a flea - LOOK A NAKED GIRL - NOW GO TO THE DOCTOR AND GET A PHYSICAL!

Yesterday a rugby buddy of mine FINALLY decided to go to the doctor. Basically his wife had to promise he wasn't seeing her side of the bed until he did so. Bottom line, he was lethargic, no energy, but the worst piece was bruising at the least amount of contact. Within 48 hours he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, admitted to hospital and started on chemotherapy.

It's not so much that he found out he was sick - it's that it took him so long to go to the doctor to find this out. Get an annual physical - get it every year (for those who's English, albeit their primary language, don't really get that last point - 'annual' means every year!) For the next 10 callers that prove they've had their physical this year I will send you a Tootsie Pop!

On a serious note - I was lucky in that I was able to diagnose my disease prior to it having any serious impact on my body. And all because I finally went to the doctor (I had actually missed a year). It's a pain in the ass (especially the prostate test for those of you old enough) but worth it in the end (how's that for a pun!) I know my friend will kick his disease just like I know he will tell his wife, when it's through, that he can get at least one more season in at hooker (and i'll be his number 8 any day of the week!)

Cycle3 starts tomorrow - should have results and numbers coming after tomorrow's doctor visit. Till then GO TO THE DOCTOR!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

End of Cycle2

I've arrived at the end of my second cycle of chemo and, without official medical opinion, my numbers look great. Red blood cell production (red count, hemoglobin, hematocrit) are all moving up from thenlow range into the normal range. They aren't there yet but they are all higher than they have been in quite awhile. White cell counts are still low but I hit 8 and change this past week where the numbers have been 4-5 for the last six months. Where white cells are the antibodies used to help your immune system my disease has one anti body going crazy and the rest have been somewhat suppressed (again, my non-medical opinion). This number moving into normal is good.
Total protein has dripped to 6.9 which is the low end of normal. Any lower and my protein levels would be "low". It was this marker (at 9.2) that originally pinpointed the fact there was an issue. This number dropping so low is a great sign. Globulin is also an indicator for the IGA number. Globulin hit 3 on the last visit where it was between 6-8 over the past six months. Next Friday I will start Cycle3 and will have full blood work done. Last IGA count was 1700 (down from 4200) so I'm not sure what to expect but
I'm hoping to be in the low 1,000 range. I'm really unsure what I should expect. The high end of normal is around 400 so that's the target.
The only issue I faced on this cycle was hot palms. Really hot palms! I had some acid reflux issues and they recommended I use Zantac. Immediately after that I found my palms burning up. I stopped the Zantac and the palms continued. I'm being told it's a reaction to the dex (steroid). The one thing you can look forward to as the dex/velcad wear off is a departure of the constipation! Time for a big steak dinner with broccoli!!!

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