karl&myeloma

Today is Rm 3-6.

On Wednesday, I had an infusion of zoledronic acid or Zometa. James had recommended it and Warren agreed to put me back on this monthly infusion. We’ll see how it goes.

Yesterday, I developed Rev-Rash all over my arms. Fortunately, I keep a bottle of body lotion in my office. As before, this seemed to resolve this side effect.

Today is my second day of dosing with methylprednisolone instead of using dexamethasone. This is without a doubt, the most bitter tablet I’ve ever had the misfortune of having to swallow. So, today I took it with water between spoons of cereal at breakfast. This helped. I’m still trying to decide how much it affects my sleep.

Also nasty tasting and foul smelling is the Alpha-Lipoic acid capsules of 600 mg. I’m taking it to help out with my peripheral neuropathy. The neuropathy has gone back up from a low of about 5% of my worst experiences just before I started the Revlimid in December to about 15% to 20% of that worst level. I now feel the occasional sharp pains in my feet.

I know I have not written about Margot and Neil recently. I have been seeing both regularly. Margot worked on my feet as well as my back and neck. I really do think that my regular chiropractic care has been helping my overall health and helping to manage the side effects.

It has also been a while since I discussed spiritual healing. I was recently reminded that cancer is the most difficult for spiritual healing to have a quick response with.

I am reminded of the old joke about the devout gentleman who was in a flood. He had climbed onto his roof. In a short while, someone in a canoe came by and asked him to come aboard. The man responded, “No thanks, God will save me.” After an hour later, the man had to move to the peak of his roof because the waters kept rising. A speedboat came by and the driver asked him to come aboard. As before, the man replied, “No thanks, God will save me.” After another 20 minutes, the man was standing on his chimney with the flood waters swirling about his knees. About 5 minutes later, the waters were up to his waist and a helicopter came by dragging a ladder. The pilot motioned for him to grab the ladder. The man waived off the helicopter saying, “No thanks, God will save me.” Shortly afterwards, the waves swept the man away and he drowned. When he reached St. Peter, he had only one question, “Why didn’t God save me?” To this, St. Peter responded, “What are you talking about? We sent you a canoe, a speedboat, and a helicopter. Wasn’t one of these good enough for you?”

The moral of this story is that we cancer patients must listen to our doctors, friends, and care givers. We must choose the therapy that we think is right for each of us. But we cannot ignore it and expect God to heal us without some other therapy. We must be smart enough to use the guidance given to us by God and with God’s help, make our choices.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for my healing.

Amen.