My white count went from .06 yesterday to .12 today. Maybe now it will continue to increase.
The oncologist that is seeing Dr. Van Rhee's patients stopped by today and was very pleased at how my myeloma markers have come down. He said this past treatment of chemo will probably work another two months. I hope he is right.
I continue to have digestive tract issues from the chemo. I have no idea how long that's going to last. Today I saw my first sign that my hair is starting to come out. I will probably cut it all off tomorrow. I have not felt as well today as I have the past several days. It could be because of sleep they came in at 3:45 this morning to draw the blood. They have not been doing it that early before.
I hope everyone is having a nice day.

This is the 26th day in the hospital.

I thought I would do this blog post earlier today even though there might be something happening between now and bedtime since I had good news to pass on.
Both of Dr. Van Rhee's APNs came in this afternoon and brought the latest results of my myeloma markers. They were very pleased that my Kappa free light chains had improved greatly. Of course I was too. I had been very concerned. The test on Monday was over 16 and today it was only over 8, normal is about 2. In the photo of the plot they brought me, you can see how high the Kappa free light chains got before I got this latest chemo. This chart goes back to August of 2013. I had feared that this chemo, which I've had two times before, would not bring the counts down and I am so very thankful that it has worked. In April of 2013 and in November 2013 I got it which was part of the stem cell collection process.
The information that I had received about when Dr. Van Rhee is going to return has been incorrect. The hospitalist told me he was going to return on Wednesday but it is not this Wednesday but a week from now. The APNs predicted that I would be in the hospital for another week or two. I won't get to leave until I'm making platelets again. I received one bag of platelets today and one unit of blood.
I expected my white count to take a big jump up today but it didn't it actually went back down to 0.06. The APN said it was normal for it to vary this much before it starts up. She also said it wasn't as important for the white count to go up as it was the platelets. They can do more to control the white count by giving me the growth factor shots.
Thank you for the comments. They are much appreciated. I hope you have a nice evening.

Thank you all for your comments. It's always good to hear from you and a bright spot in our day.
I still have some lasting effects from the chemo. That was expected though. My counts went up today. They went from .07 yesterday to .11 today. The doctor said this morning that she expects large gains in the next couple of days. I'm not sure when or even if I will lose my hair this time. My plan is to cut it off before the main part of it comes out but I fear that if I cut it off partly, I would then have a poor haircut. Then, if I did not lose it I would be in a mess. I guess it will all work out. I expect to see my oncologist on Thursday.
I hope you had a nice holiday.

I'm still having some after effects of the chemo. I think that will go away in the next few days. My white count did go up a small amount today but I was very glad to see it because it did go up instead of continuing to go down. It went from 0.05 yesterday to 0.07 today. The best news I had today was that the Kappa free light chains went down considerably from the test this morning. The Kappa free light chains is one of the major things they look at when they look at the myeloma markers. On June 28th my Kappa free light chains was 58.91 and this morning it was 16.17. Normal would be not to exceed 1.94. On one check since I've been here when I was without any treatment at all it was 84+. You could see why I was so glad with the number that I got today. I was so concerned that this round of chemo that I just had would not work and I'm so thankful that it is. Thank each of you for your prayers. It really seems like we're all in this together. I am very thankful for each of you.
I hope you enjoy the holiday.

Thanks for the caring comments that were left on yesterday's post. I really appreciate hearing from you.

I made an error in posting my white count the last couple of days and got the decimal point in the wrong place. I have used the computer and made a correction and it is now correct. The reason I mentioned that is in looking at the results of the past two days it looks like my results would have gone up based on today's results which they did not. The white count continued to go down. Yesterday it was 0.20 and today it was 0.05 which would be 1/4 of what it was yesterday. Maybe soon it will start to recover.

The only chemo after effects I've had today have been digestive tract issues.

When we first got here I had a hospital Tech that was a young black man that seemed to be real caring and we hit it off real well. During that first day he asked us if we knew Jesus. He has come by to see us even though he might be working in another location. Today was his off day and he came in to visit. He's 23 years old and one of the reasons he wanted to come in today was to have prayer with us.
That is all for today thanks for reading.

We had family come from Memphis today to visit. It sure was great to see them. In the photo above is Kim, Val, and Joe. I really hated to see them leave.
The weekend hospitalist came by and had quite a bit of information to share since she had talked to doctor Van Rhee's APN and the APN had talked with doctor Van Rhee. My white count this morning was 0.20. That is less than half what it was yesterday. She said that she expects the white count not to bottom out for 2 more days and then start to increase. She also expects the myeloma markers to improve over the next week. I sure hope she's right. She said that Dr. Van Rhee has a plan at this point to give melphalan and then stem cells which amounts to a smaller than usual stem cell transplant. That is scary to me since it could result in a worse disease called MDS but we will see what the doctor thinks after this.
That is all I have to report today that I can think of right now. I hope you have a good Fourth of July holiday.