I received another bag of platelets today and one unit of blood. My body, of course, is still not producing enough platelets to keep up.
My white count went from 0.56 yesterday to 0.79 today. Of course, I was very glad to see that increase. The best news I got today was from my myeloma markers test which are done on Mondays and Wednesdays. The Kappa free light chains went from 8.60 last Wednesday to 7.07 today. They should not exceed 1.94. I had feared that they would actually go up and the doctor on the weekend prepared me to see a result where they did increase but I am very thankful that it actually went down. Of course this past chemo was just to get the myeloma knocked down to where it can be managed in some way and will come back as bad as it was if nothing else is done. The weekend doctor told me that I may need to have a bone marrow biopsy just to check to see if the myeloma has actually decreased or has only decreased the markers.
I am very thankful for all the prayers that have gone out asking God for my healing.

Today was the 31st day in the hospital.

We had a wonderful visit today with my brother from Memphis and my niece. They are in the photo above. I really hated to see them leave.
My white count went from .34 yesterday to .54 today. I had to get another bag of platelets today so I am still not producing platelets which is expected right now.
Thank you for your nice comments. I hope you have a nice beginning to a new week.

I received one bag of platelets today and one unit of blood. My white count went from .24 yesterday to .34 today.
I am so hopeful that my platelets will soon start to recover. In case I didn't mention it in a previous post, that is an indication of how well the bone marrow is recovering from the chemo. It must recover before I can go on to the next step. At this point, it looks like the next step would be a stem cell transplant.
My hair was coming out from the after effects of the chemo so we cut it all off last night.
Thanks for leaving the nice comments.

The photo above shows the work that Dr. Pait did on my neck. They tell me it will not set off metal detectors and it'll be okay to have an MRI with it.
My white count went from .12 yesterday to .24 today. It looks like it's on the increase now and I hope the platelets will increase too but they tell me that's the last thing to recover. The doctor said today it will probably take a week or two for the platelets to recover. I meant to post yesterday that I got a bag of platelets yesterday and a unit of blood the day before.
A big happy birthday to our good friend, Kathy Dean, who regularly reads this blog and often leaves comments.
I guess that will be all for today. I hope you're having a real nice day.

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.