6/30/2010 The morning after Treatment

We got out of town a little late on Monday, but still made it to the labs on time so it was no problem. Cara, Bruce and Tyler were at Coral Canyon so we enjoyed spending the evening with them.

Treatment morning went well, except Dr. Te was running late because of a procedure he was doing in his office that morning that made all of us run late to get to the treatment room. He went over most of my labs with me (all the results from Mon. night weren't back yet) and it looks like everything is moving in the right direction still. The Procrit is also helping my Anemia which is good. Anyway, made it through treatment by about 11:30 and then we ran a couple of errands and then I drove us home, I was still feeling really well since the side effects don't really hit until the next day or two and the Dex has me up and running.

As you can tell, I didn't need the alarm clock this morning, got out of bed a while ago and will go get ready for work in a little while. 3rd day of the Dex today, one more to go for this week, so by the weekend I'll start feeling the side effects from treatment and will slow down again. The last 4 or 5 days have been very nice, I've felt just about as normal as I can since this whole thing started. We'll see how today goes and tomorrow we get ready to go up for the next Treatment.

6/28/2010 Ready to begin Round 4

I wasn't looking forward to the weekend getting over, it meant getting ready to start Round 4 of the treatments and by the time Sunday came around I was feeling just about as normal as I have for several weeks, but it's Monday now and time to get ready for the next series of treatments. I started another 4 days of the Dex this morning (and I was sleeping so good) then we'll be traveling this afternoon. Last week's rest and recovery really helped me, so hopefully that with the Dex will keep things moving through this round of treatments.

Tonight's blood draw is a big one so they can have all current numbers for everything going into this round. In 2 1/2 weeks we'll be traveling to Salt Lake to meet with the doctors at LDS Hosptital so this blood draw will help them too, or I'll get to do another one before going up.

6/23/2010 Was it a week off? (late)

I'm writing this late, I just never got around to adding this information last week.

We made a quick trip to St. George to pick up the Hyundai from the dealer, so while we were there, I went to Dr. Te's office and got the second shot of Procrit, which is suppose to help my Anemia problems without giving me other peoples antibodies. Last week when they gave it to me I ended up with some pretty nasty side effects, but this time I took precautions and took a big dose of tylenol before getting the shot, so the side effects were very small - almost non-existent. It was a very quick trip. We took Addie with us, she was a very good traveler.

Then we went home and enjoyed a quiet weekend.

6/21/2010 More Interesting Days

Sometime Saturday, I think it changed from bone pain associated with the medicine - to kidney pain as the heat and maybe not enough water caused some real discomfort in my lower left back. I have a new found respect for those that suffer with kidney pain, I didn't recognize what was happening, so I kept medicating myself for bone pain side effects, but I think sometime around 3 or 4 am Sunday morning I recognized that it was a different pain I was suffering with. So after Patty did some reading Sunday morning and we recognized that it was probably a liquid problem, I set myself a challenge to drink my kidneys back to normal.

It's Monday evening now and I think I've drank enough water to float a ship, but the kidneys feel pretty good and I don't have the pain I had over the weekend. My insides are still recovering, but things are looking up.

6/19/2010 An Interesting couple of Days

We were a little late getting out of Vegas on Thursday evening, which normally wouldn't be a problem, the lab stays open until 9:00 pm. Well, we left town and headed up, somewhere around the Moapa Tribal truck stop the lights on the dashboard started coming on starting with the battery light. I figured that OK, the car is 3 1/2 years old, it's summer, we need a battery, so we started calling and found that the AutoZone in Mesquite had what we needed, so we limped into Mesquite and with the help of a nice kid at the store got the battery, got it changed and got on our way to make it to the labs with plenty of time to spare.

We thought that was the end of the problems, Bruce had a charger at the shop which he brought over to the house and we charged the new battery all night to make sure everything would be good. Well, that was the theory anyway. We got up Friday morning, Patty had to work at Smith's so I hauled her over there to work and went to my treatment, I was starting to get the idea that something else was happening because the batter light came back on, so we called Hyundai and got an appointment to have it looked at after lunch.

Treatment itself went pretty well, but I guess that I'm getting more anemic so they gave me some new medicine to boost me up rather than thinking about a transfusion. It all went well, but it has a side effect - it gets into the bones and has some pain associated with the after effects. They gave me medicine, but I should have taken it sooner, made it through, but wasn't much company for Patty for the rest of the day.

So, getting back to the car, we got some lunch and then went to Hyundai to have them look at it. They got it in pretty quick, and they found that the Alternator had burnt out - which happens so rarely, they didn't have a new one in stock, so they rented us a car to bring back to Vegas and the new part won't be in until at least next Tuesday, which also means that our week off, won't really be a total week off when we have to go up to get the Hyundai back. That will help the treatments, because they wanted the shots to be done once a week for 4 weeks - so this will work out.

6/16/2010 Day after treatment

Treatment went well yesterday, got in there, got hooked up and was out the door in good time, then after a couple of errands, Patty left me at the Coral Canyon house and went to lunch with some of her friends from St. George, it was good for her to do that. When she got back we loaded up and then headed over to say Hi to Bill and Ruthann (Patty's brother and sister-in-law). They are getting ready to take a motorcycle ride back east for about 3 or more weeks. Then we hit the road and came back to Vegas, we got back around 4:15 and decided to go pick up Addie right away instead of coming home and then going back out for her. Matt came home while we were over there.

So, you might ask why am I blogging so early again? I'm not sure, but I guess I'll blame part of it on the Dex in my system, and part of it on a knot, or something in the back of my right thigh that wouldn't go away this morning about 4:30, so once again, I get to watch the first rays of light come over Sunrise Mountain this morning and turn off the alarm so Patty can get a few minutes extra sleep. I don't know what this knot, or charlie horse in my leg is, but I hope it goes away soon as it is very distracting. Well, not too much else going on with me, just waiting a few minutes before getting ready to go to work and then we'll see what the day brings us.

6/15/2010 Treatment Day 3, Round 3

Don't know if it's the Dex, or a warm bedroom, or reflux, or a little of all, but I am up early again, I miss hearing the alarm. We are in Coral Canyon, Bruce, Cara and Tyler are here with us tonight after Cara made us some great Pork Burritos last night - that could account for the reflux as late and as much as I ate. The sun is just coming up here and people will be stirring around soon, but it's nice and peaceful right now, I pay for it later, but I really do enjoy this time of day.

We went over to Matt's house Saturday afternoon, Amanda helped him finish painting the entire downstairs of his home, it looked really good. They have started upstairs, but everyone agreed the blue-gray on the stairs is looking a lot better for a while.

We had a good trip up last night, we took Addie over to Amanda's to spend the night while we came up. I think she's a little confused as to where she actually lives, but she's doing quite well considering what we ask her to put up with and she really enjoys her time with Maggie and Zoey. There is getting to be a lot more traffic on the road heading north on most nights and last night was no exception, don't know where everyone is going, it does thin out a little after Moapa and then again after Mesquite, but still more than there use to be heading into St. George. They have begun work on the new off ramp and bridge that will connect directly to Dixie Drive about a half mile south of the Bluff Street exit, so everyone coming through St. George will need to keep that in mind for the next year or so while they build it.

So, treatment today, another short hour one and I'm back on the Dex for 4 days so my energy levels will be up for this week - countered by reduced sleep. We'll head back to Vegas later today, and I'll be back at work tomorrow and Thursday to get ready to do it all over again. Thursday will be the end of Round 3 treatments, it's kind of weird, but it's one of those things where it seems like we just started this a week or two ago, but it seems like it's been going for a really long time, both are probably true since my quick care issues started clear back in February but the treatments only started at the end of April. Hope every one's summer is going very well.

6/12/2010 Saturday Evening

We had treatment yesterday, it went pretty well, I met a couple there that were talking to the nurse practitioner about treatments and medicines and I heard them say Velcade, and a couple other things that sounded pretty familiar to me. The wife who is now 73 +/-has had Multiple Myeloma for 7 or 8 years, she achieved over 5 years of remission the first time with only medication, the second time she had a stem cell transplant, but unfortunately she got less than a year of remission. She went to LDS Hospital and nothing but good to say about the Doctors and the whole operation up there. unfortunately for me, our weeks are off just enough that I probably won't get to talk to them for about 3 weeks. I hope things go well for her, they seemed like very good people. I didn't get why they ended up in St. George, but they like it here. I hope to see them again and talk more with them.

We picked up some paperwork, ran some errands and got out of St. George pretty early yesterday. Matt had let us borrow his pickup to take the purple couch up to Coral Canyon, we did that and decided to bring back a futon bed to put into Matt's house. When we got home we added the purple chair to Matt's truck for him to use and/or store - at least it's out of our house. We went to Amanda's house to get Addie and stayed until Matt came home with our pickup that he was using while we were in Utah.

You may have noticed that the blogs aren't coming at 5 or 6 in the morning, the good news is that I seem to be sleeping a lot better, the not so great news is that I can sit down and sleep just about anytime. I go back on the Dex on Monday for 4 days, I am looking forward to having a little more energy again. Hope everyone has a great Sunday and I'll blog at you again soon.

6/10/2010 Here we go again

Tuesday we began another round of treatment, it went well, we met with Dr. Te first thing and went over all the blood tests that I had on the 28th. It looked like all the numbers were moving in the right direction, some of them quite a bit, others just a little, but overall it was very good news. Then after getting some errands run and a couple of other things, we headed back for home in Vegas.

Amanda said that Addie had a good night at her house with Maggie and Zoey and slept very well. Patty went over to pick her up and collect her things. We both went back to work on Wednesday, it was a good day, but a long one for all three of us, Addie did very well with the long hours. Then we went to dinner with Amanda, Ryan and Matt and afterwards went over to Matt's house to look at the progress on painting and getting it ready for him, he's had some logistic problems with the utility turn ons, but they are getting sorted out and he is making good progress (with Amanda's help) on getting things done.

We'll be heading to Coral Canyon this afternoon, we're taking Matt's truck to haul the purple couch up there, and then we'll be heading to treatment again tomorrow morning. Bruce is going to help on that end trading couches and Addie gets to spend the night with the girls at Amanda's house again, so she will be ready for a rest when we get back home.

I'm doing very well, I get tired easy, but that seems to be the major side effect from the whole treatment thing.

6/6/2010 Getting ready for Round 3

We've had a good weekend, Friday night we had the pleasure of seeing Bruce and Cara and having Lance, Suzy, Thomas and Ben (as well as Bruce and Cara) spend the night with us on their trip out from Florida on their way to Salt Lake by way of Parowan. It was a late night for everyone and not sure what Addie thought about the whole situation, but she did like playing with the boys in the morning. Saturday morning Amanda and Matt came by for a few minutes to say Hi to them before they left for Utah. Then Matt went to his house to wait for delivery people and to start taping for painting and all those fun home owner things that he will learn to do.

The rest of Saturday and most of Sunday was a lazy day of rest while we prepare to get ready for the next round of treatments. We'll be going again tomorrow afternoon to be there for Round 3 Treatment 1. We will be curious to find out the results of the blood tests that were run on 5/28, hopefully the numbers are still going in the right directions and we are progressing. So tomorrow it's back to work, then off from work to begin the next 3 week cycle.

Josh had a full week this past week. He's not in the class room, he's interning at a Costco Pharmacy for 4 weeks (the past week was week 1), he says it is a very busy high volume Pharmacy that is pretty close to his apartment. The hard part for him is standing on his feet for 8 - 9 hours a day because the head Pharmacist took all the stools away. He is building up his muscles, but it sounds like he is enjoying the experience, getting a chance to put the things he is learning to practical experience.

6/3/2010 Week off Treatment sort of

We are continuing on the week off treatments, but I am taking the Dex (steroids). I think it helped me recover better, I've felt very good all week, especially when I remembered to take the Dex earlier in the day, yesterday I didn't take them until after noon and I could tell my stamina was way lower than the day before when I had taken them about 7:00 am. Not much else on the health stage to report for me, Patty pulled a little muscle yesterday and is nursing it along.

The good news this morning, we get to take hot showers today. Our water heater started leaking on Monday night and we had to turn it off, so yesterday I tracked down the manufacturer's distributor and got a new one for warranty replacement charge and then used a great guy from our ward to change them out, which he did last night after getting off his regular job - I'm quiting now so I can have my hot shower. Hope everyone has a great and safe day.

6/1/2010 Return of the Dex

It's about 5:00 am and I'm up and blogging, that probably means one thing, I started 4 days of Dex yesterday morning - but not early enough.

I probably would have been up a while ago, but we have a house guest for the next 8 or 9 weeks and I didn't want to disturb her or in turn Patty until at least now so I waited. Our house guest is Addie, Josh's 7-8 month old Scottish Terrier. Josh starts a 4 week rotation with a Costco Pharmacy this morning and because of the long days he didn't want to leave her alone for 9-10 hours a day for 5-6 days in a row so we agreed to take her for June and July since after Costco he does another 4 week rotation with a rehabilitation hospital during July. He is out of school during all of August so he will probably be up here for much of August and so in reality Addie will be living here for most of 3 months. She is a pretty good dog, but needs a little more supervision during the next couple of months to help her become a good dog. Amanda will get her share of doggie sitting during the times we have to go to St. George, so it will be a family affair.

We got a new couch delivered on Saturday, we had gone to RC Willey looking for one last week and were planning on waiting until their Memorial Day Sale, but this one was already marked down and we liked it for our needs. it is a sectional and has 4 recliner sections. We think we're going to like it. It's comfortable and has good back support for our bodies.

Back to work today for everyone lucky enough to have a holiday on Monday. This will sound very bad for those of you that work 5 days a week, especially if you didn't get yesterday off, but for me it now a 3 day work week, which is very difficult because we work with contractors, they will be expecting us to get 4 days of work in the 3 days, which is impossible, but the demand is still there. Of course I'm relying on my memory of 3 day weeks gone by, now pretty much all weeks are 3 day weeks, so it is a little different for me now.

Don't have too much medical to talk about this morning, had a very good day yesterday, we didn't do much, but I feel very good. We talked to mom and dad yesterday, that was good. Like I said, started another 4 days of Dex yesterday, going to take today's dose earlier today than I did yesterday to see if they can clear the system before I wake up to solve the world's problems at 4:30 or 5:00 tomorrow, who knows, maybe the next blog will be at 2:00 or 3:00, I hope not.