{"id":95,"date":"2009-04-01T12:52:55","date_gmt":"2009-04-01T17:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2009-04-02T09:24:31","modified_gmt":"2009-04-02T14:24:31","slug":"chemo-maintenance-end-of-cycle-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/?p=95","title":{"rendered":"Chemo maintenance – end of cycle 23"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chemo maintenance \u2013 end of cycle 23<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Had blood work today and visited the UofM Cancer Clinic to meet with Dr. Jakubowiak and assess my progress. Things continue to go well, with all indications that the cancer remains in \u201ccomplete remission\u201d \u2013 very good news and a trend that I hope continues for many years.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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NEWS FROM MY CLINIC VISIT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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At the end of cycle 23 we met with Dr. J alone – due to a collection of circumstances all of his PAs and medical assistants were out of the office. There were no surprises in my lab work, but I did have an ailment to complain about: loss of \u201crange of motion\u201d in both shoulders, particularly my right shoulder, which is quite painful when lifting medium-heavy objects (like a gallon of milk), or when performing familiar tasks (like putting on a coat). Ouch!!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dr J does not think the shoulder problem is related to Myeloma, but perhaps to other inherited age-related {AGE RELATED?\u00a0 <\/span>I ain\u2019t old enough to have \u201cage related\u201d ;-} ailments like the bursitis that my mother experienced. He ordered a slew of x-rays and a pair of MRI\u2019s. Stay tuned for results in my next update.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dr J also reviewed the results from my recent bone density test, which reveals some osteopenia (bone loss\/weakness) in my pelvis, spine and neck. Nothing critical, nor unexpected. This is what Myeloma is all about. We\u2019ll get another test next year and compare. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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MEDICATION CHANGES<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In view of the \u201ccomplete remission\u201d, we\u2019ve once again reduced my Revlimid chemotherapy dose \u2013 from 15 mg to 10 mg for 14 days of a 21 day cycle. For my bone density problem, he recommended an over-the-counter drug with vitamin D and calcium: Oscal – 500 mg twice a day.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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SIDE EFFECTS<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Neuropathy \u2013 No change from my previous report. However, the reduction in Revlimid dosage may make my feet feel a little better. Sure hope so, I have a l-o-n-g plane ride in my future.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Neutropenia \u2013 No big news here. My WBC and ANC counts (see previous update) continue to vary greatly from blood-test to blood-test, but my body seems to be able to recover by itself.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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NEXT STEPS<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dr J wants to see what\u2019s happening with my shoulders before we leave for South Korea (vacation\/visit with son who is in the Army). So today\u2019s x-rays, and two MRIs, will be the most medical excitement during this next cycle. Other than than, it\u2019s just daily pills and a monthly blood test.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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We don\u2019t meet with medical staff again until late June, so my next blog posting won\u2019t be until then.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s the latest news from Hamburg.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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-larry<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chemo maintenance \u2013 end of cycle 23 \u00a0 Had blood work today and visited the UofM Cancer Clinic to meet with Dr. Jakubowiak and assess my progress. Things continue to go well, with all indications that the cancer remains in \u201ccomplete remission\u201d \u2013 very good news and a trend that I hope continues for many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}