I have been on two chemo therapies that are in tablet form. My regimen has been to take one of the tablets every day for three weeks, skip a week and resume the protocol. The other tablet I have taken once a week every week. These medications have worked well for me. Now I am being transferred over to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA).
Wednesday, February 3, will be our first day as full time patient (me) and caregiver (Geoffrey) at SCCA. We will keep you posted on what is next because we really don't know. We have a lot of questions,some of which we will share with you as time progresses. Until then, love , joy and peace.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
How Did I Find Out and What Happened?
On October 5, 2009, at 6:00 am, Geoffrey took me Evergreen Hospital because I was experiencing a severe bronchial attack. At the same time in 2008, I was experiencing the same symptoms. At that time I was hospitalized for 8 days.
This time I was hoping I wouldn't be hospitalized for that long. The emergency doctor did the routine tests and gave me a strong breathing treatment. I was improving quickly and things were looking up. Around 1:00 pm, the emergency doctor indicated that their tests revealed I was very anemic, a statement I had heard many times before. He indicated that they wanted to do more test and that the hemotologist would want to see me at 4:00 pm.
So Geoffrey and I remained in Emergency until about 3:00 pm. We proceeded to another section of the hospital to see the hemotologist, who is also an onocologist. She spoke with us and revealed then that she thought I had Multiple Myeloma, a white blood plasma cancer. Tests were scheduled that next day and they confirmed her suspicions. Immediately I was placed on a tablet chemo therapy which I have been taking at home.
I needed a blood tranfusion because my hematicrit level was so low. That made a world of difference in my energy level. I was also prescribed another medicine, Revlimid, to work with the chemo therapy. The results have been great in terms of my blood levels increasing to the normal level. The bad protein levels in my blood were drastically lowering. The goal has been for the protein levels to reach below 0.1 or zero. I have not reached that goal yet.
In the meantime I have been knitting away.
Here is a picture of the afghan I knitted for Geoffrey Allen, our eldest son. I'll have Geoffrey (my husband) upload the picture so you can see the pattern.
Until the next time...Blessings to You!
This time I was hoping I wouldn't be hospitalized for that long. The emergency doctor did the routine tests and gave me a strong breathing treatment. I was improving quickly and things were looking up. Around 1:00 pm, the emergency doctor indicated that their tests revealed I was very anemic, a statement I had heard many times before. He indicated that they wanted to do more test and that the hemotologist would want to see me at 4:00 pm.
So Geoffrey and I remained in Emergency until about 3:00 pm. We proceeded to another section of the hospital to see the hemotologist, who is also an onocologist. She spoke with us and revealed then that she thought I had Multiple Myeloma, a white blood plasma cancer. Tests were scheduled that next day and they confirmed her suspicions. Immediately I was placed on a tablet chemo therapy which I have been taking at home.
I needed a blood tranfusion because my hematicrit level was so low. That made a world of difference in my energy level. I was also prescribed another medicine, Revlimid, to work with the chemo therapy. The results have been great in terms of my blood levels increasing to the normal level. The bad protein levels in my blood were drastically lowering. The goal has been for the protein levels to reach below 0.1 or zero. I have not reached that goal yet.
In the meantime I have been knitting away.
Here is a picture of the afghan I knitted for Geoffrey Allen, our eldest son. I'll have Geoffrey (my husband) upload the picture so you can see the pattern.
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