karl&myeloma

Yikes!! Has it really been almost two weeks since I posted to my blog? Apparently it’s true that myeloma bloggers write less often when things are OK.

There is some news to report. I’ve been taking the amitriptaline since November 7th faithfully every, night, until this week when I skipped Monday the 26th. I am very happy to report that my peripheral neuropathy symptoms have been cut in about half. Yea! Praise The Lord!

My only issue seems to one of pulse. My new normal seems to be about 80 with visits to 90 or 100 without my seeming to exert much effort. According to the package insert, sinus tachycardia is what this is called in medical-ese. My old resting pulse was pretty steady from 60 to 68 or so. So I skipped the dose on Monday to see if the pulse might settle. I was going to skip last night too, until I noticed that the neuropathy seemed a little worse. According to Wikipedia, sinus tachycardia is not something to worry much about, so the lesser of two evils now definitely sides with having the tachycardia over the neuropathy.

Meanwhile, I continue to take my curcumin phytosome in the expectation that it will have some anti-myeloma benefit. My next blood draw is tomorrow morning with results due on December 5, when I have my next appointment with Warren. I have not had any chemotherapy since September 10th.

While trying to make up my mind on having the Autologous Stem Cell Transplant, I am participating on a conference call on Thursday evening on the Myeloma Cure Panel which will discuss how patients can proceed in treatment without the ASCT. Then on Monday afternoon, December 3, the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society is sponsoring a webcast on ASCT for Lymphoma and Myeloma that I will watch. Finally, on December 10, the IMF is sponsoring another webcast called Making Sense of Treatment. I do not plan to make any final decisions on my ASCT until I been through all three programs. I will keep you all posted.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for my healing.

Amen.