S/V Myeloma - End of Cycle 3
20 January 2015 | Gosport
Jane
Unbelievably another month has passed on S/V Myeloma. We had a pretty good Christmas with Andy well enough to drive us up to London on Christmas Day to spend the day with Barb, Dan and the grandchildren. He had been worried that he would be having one of the down days or that they would have streaming colds which would mean he wouldn’t be able to go. We had a lovely meal with them and then had Boxing Day with my brother and family eating more fabulous food.
Since then, we’ve pretty much stayed indoors keeping warm and trying not to be too envious of the photos on Facebook that our friends in Australia keep putting on of them on the beach, at a barbecue, camping in the bush, eating at outdoor restaurants or drinking cold glasses of something!
Today we had to go and get Andy’s blood results following his 3rd cycle of chemotherapy. Last month his light chains were 62 mg/l which we were thrilled with and we were hoping for another good result. Andy, of course, being the competitive person he is, had decided he had to get down to at least half of that. I’ve spend the last few days trying to get him to be realistic so that if they hadn’t come down, he wouldn’t be too disappointed. You know that small print that says these rates can down as well as up? Apparently it’s the same with these light chains. They can suddenly start going back up instead of down and then the treatment has to be changed. Well, I am pleased to report that they were 34 mg/l which means that they are almost ‘normal’ (between 5.7 – 26.3) and he is on course to have his stem cell transplant in April.
All he’s got to do before then is have another bone marrow biopsy, an echocardiogram, a 24 hour ECG, a lung function test, a kidney function test, several more blood tests and an infusion to strengthen his bones! Piece of cake!
Meanwhile S/V Matilda is on Day 11 of her Atlantic crossing and is hopefully on course to arrive in the Caribbean in another 8/9 days. We haven’t heard from Andy B so not sure how he’s getting on so if you see them, let us know!
Meanwhile Happy New Year to you all. Wishing us all a fabulous 2015 with good health and happiness. And please keep putting on the gorgeous photos. Gives us something to aim for!