It was an exciting day for me as I actually paid for a haircut. It had been since May, before I went into the hospital, that I had a professional lower my ears. Julia has been doing a good job of trimming but it was time for the plunge. I’m sure you will get a kick out of where I went. It is called “Floyd’s Barber Shop” and is reminiscent of where I would get my hair cut as a kid. Just four chairs and two barbers. These were real barbers, not twenty-something hairdressers with blue and pink hair. I even got a lecture as to why teenage girls breasts are getting bigger. Per Floyd, it is because of the hormones we are feeding chickens to get more white meat. Silly me, I thought it was silicone.
On the medical front, the last week has been a bit of a whirlwind. Julia and I met with Dr. Mikhail on Tuesday and got a bit of a mixed bag of results. My cancer cell count is up slightly, from 5.98 to 7.24. I wasn’t too excited about that since I was expecting a cure. Still better than I had two months after the transplant, so nothing to get too concerned about at this point. If we start seeing a trend going in the wrong direction, it might be time to get that rosary out again.
The other not so pleasant news was that my creatinine was up significantly. It jumped from 2.2 to 2.8 which is as high as it has been since I started taking the original chemo. Again, not the end of the world, but something to watch. The other thing that jumped out was my blood pressure. It was in the 150/90 range which is probably causing my kidneys to act up.
I spoke to Dr. Hogan, my kidney guy, and he suggested that I check my blood pressure three times a day and report back to him tomorrow. Over the weekend the pressure was up and down, but it definitely spiked when I got to work today. Imagine that, work causing your blood pressure to climb. Not to worry, as Dr. Hogan is sure that he can give me something that can get it back in shape without any side effects. In the mean time, I am trying to get a little more exercise and hope to take off 10 pounds. In the past this has helped me out quite a bit.
On the positive side of my results, the full body scan came back very good. It was hard to say that I had any damage directly tied to the multiple myeloma. This means that my body is doing a good job of getting my bones back to normal. So much for my excuse that I can’t lift anything over 10 pounds. Only problem is that I have babied myself so much, I can hardly lift anything over 10 pounds.
The other good thing is that my blood looks very good. Some problems areas have been cleaned up and my hemoglobin is back to normal. That is the first time I have seen that in a long time. So all in all, it wasn’t a bad trip to the doctor, just not a good as I had hoped.
Since this last weekend was Thanksgiving, it really gave me the opportunity to think about where I am in life. I really think we as Americans take too many things for granted. We probably don’t appreciate all that we have. We live in a land of plenty when even the poor would be looked upon as prosperous in some countries.
I guess I am just lucky and feel that way to still be here. If it wasn’t for my family physician, my oncologist, my nephrologist and all of the wonderful people at the Mayo Clinic and hospital, I might not have had the opportunity to enjoy the turkey that Julia made on Thursday. I have found that I have some of the best friends/relatives in the world. My life may not be as I would have designed it right now, but I am so thankful for the life I lead and the friends that I have. Make sure you appreciate all that you have been given and don’t take anything for granted.
On the medical front, the last week has been a bit of a whirlwind. Julia and I met with Dr. Mikhail on Tuesday and got a bit of a mixed bag of results. My cancer cell count is up slightly, from 5.98 to 7.24. I wasn’t too excited about that since I was expecting a cure. Still better than I had two months after the transplant, so nothing to get too concerned about at this point. If we start seeing a trend going in the wrong direction, it might be time to get that rosary out again.
The other not so pleasant news was that my creatinine was up significantly. It jumped from 2.2 to 2.8 which is as high as it has been since I started taking the original chemo. Again, not the end of the world, but something to watch. The other thing that jumped out was my blood pressure. It was in the 150/90 range which is probably causing my kidneys to act up.
I spoke to Dr. Hogan, my kidney guy, and he suggested that I check my blood pressure three times a day and report back to him tomorrow. Over the weekend the pressure was up and down, but it definitely spiked when I got to work today. Imagine that, work causing your blood pressure to climb. Not to worry, as Dr. Hogan is sure that he can give me something that can get it back in shape without any side effects. In the mean time, I am trying to get a little more exercise and hope to take off 10 pounds. In the past this has helped me out quite a bit.
On the positive side of my results, the full body scan came back very good. It was hard to say that I had any damage directly tied to the multiple myeloma. This means that my body is doing a good job of getting my bones back to normal. So much for my excuse that I can’t lift anything over 10 pounds. Only problem is that I have babied myself so much, I can hardly lift anything over 10 pounds.
The other good thing is that my blood looks very good. Some problems areas have been cleaned up and my hemoglobin is back to normal. That is the first time I have seen that in a long time. So all in all, it wasn’t a bad trip to the doctor, just not a good as I had hoped.
Since this last weekend was Thanksgiving, it really gave me the opportunity to think about where I am in life. I really think we as Americans take too many things for granted. We probably don’t appreciate all that we have. We live in a land of plenty when even the poor would be looked upon as prosperous in some countries.
I guess I am just lucky and feel that way to still be here. If it wasn’t for my family physician, my oncologist, my nephrologist and all of the wonderful people at the Mayo Clinic and hospital, I might not have had the opportunity to enjoy the turkey that Julia made on Thursday. I have found that I have some of the best friends/relatives in the world. My life may not be as I would have designed it right now, but I am so thankful for the life I lead and the friends that I have. Make sure you appreciate all that you have been given and don’t take anything for granted.
You are my inspiration brother.
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