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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