Will you still love me to-marrow - John Mycroft and Multiple Myeloma

Bloody hell it was hot this weekend.  On Thursday and Friday I had a coupe of hefty doses of chemo along with some steroids with the inevitable result of a dud night's sleep on Thursday and not much better on Friday.  Then on Saturday we were off to High Point to check in with Sam at the Uni.  He's strutting around the place like a senior, knowing all the shortcuts between buildings and saying "See you in Slane" as if we have a clue what he's talking about. Susan to the rescue (again).  She drove all the way there on Friday and all the way back on Saturday.  Not that it's overly far - about two and a half hours - but it's a pretty boring drive for the most part.  The temperature reached 99 degrees on the way home so we were grateful for aircon in the car.  I don't know if it was the chemical brew or the heat and humidity but something left me feeling pretty washed out by Saturday night.  It's now Sunday and I've got a new pastime to keep me bu...

Today is the no particular anniversary of my blog so, to refresh my memory and to save those looking at the blog for the first time, I'm going to use my highly faulty memory to summarise the last 18 months or so. When my MM fist started developing, nobody can tell.  It was about 3 years ago when the Red Cross told me they didn't want my blood because it wasn't rich enough.  So off to the doc to have blood tests done which showed I was, indeed, low on hemoglobin.  I was told to bugger off and buy some vitamin pills which didn't do anything for my chances of giving blood. The I started getting all kinds of grief from my boss at school, usually in the form of kangaroo courts where she and her boss had decided that something I'd done (getting air conditioning fixed, making one period a week a question and answer session and so on) was unprofessional.  Eventually they kicked me out of the math department having conveniently hired a younger guy who took my place.  S...

Had a few scheduling problems this week.  I am supposed to be getting chemo intravenously every Thursday & Friday, 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off.  At the same time, I take a big dose of Revlemid every day for 3 weeks then have a week off and take a small dose of steroids every other Monday.  (I'm hoping the steroids won't give me sleepless nights).  As you can imagine, it took a few goes to get the teeth of those cogs meshed but I think we are now in business.  Oddly enough, my steroids (of which I take 5 at a time) had 33 pills in the pot.  Anyone want to buy 3 steroid pills (please note - that is a joke: I've already given them to Bill Nighey). Upshot of this was that I arrived at Cancer Care on Thursday for my infusion only to be told that my appointment is next week.  Not being prepared to waste a nice day, I shot home, stuck some air in my bike's tyres and took off to Biltmore, well aware that I am not as fit as I have been and with there being ...

Back at Cancer Care in what I suspect must be one of the cheap rooms - no nice view of downtown or the Blue Ridge Mountains here, just a blank wall with a couple of sinks in front of it.  My companion (fellow patient) has tuned her TV to what sounds like Jerry Springer - Lite and gone to sleep.  Or I assume she's asleep - she's now stopped snoring.  I could be here for 4 hours as they have to hydrate me (I'm halfway through the bag) then fill me with a bag of drugs and hydrate me again.  Laptop battery will be well dead by then but I have a book.  I haven't managed to find out what drugs I should be taking and when and when my next appointment is or anything vaguely useful but hope I can get all that sorted before I leave.

OK - that was s short stint back on chemo.  I don't know if it was the chemo or something I ate or drink but something gave me pretty good diarrhea.  So, considering the cost of the chemo capsules, I called Cancer Care and said "Should I stop taking it?"  (and stopped taking it anyway).  Back came the answer "Yes."  A couple of days living on hard-boiled eggs (in addition to the local delicacies) soon had me back to what passes for normal.  Incidentally, although the diarrhea got into its stride in Italy, it was either Germany or Austria that started it.  Can't trust anyone these days. So now we are back in Asheville, I have paid a visit to Wake Forest and to my local Cancer Care and we are all ready to get going again.  Not 100% sure what the new scheme of things is going to be but I have a pretty good idea. Starting tomorrow, I will be taking 25mg of Revlimid (or 10 mg - have to sort that out tomorrow) every day for 2 weeks and then have 2 wee...