Thursday, November 19, 2009

Puking Stan is Back, but the M-Protein is Waning

It's hard not to smile through the vomit after seeing the results of my slowly-but-surely-being-vanquished M-protein. The M-Protein can be a key indicator of the progression of myeloma, but not always. I plan to insert a graph of my M-protein over the last 15 months once my stomach settles down. Since starting chemo, here is a quick run of the numbers:

Day 0 = 3.0
End of Partial Cycle #1 = 1.9
End of Full Cycle #2 = 1.0
Cycle #3 = Hopefully start on Tuesday, November 24th
Cycle #4 = Hopefully start 3 weeks after that
GOAL = A Big Fat Zero before bone marrow transplant (possibly tandem)

So the bad news is that Tossing Cookies Stan is back in full force. I was hoping for a decrease in the death grip on my bowels and stomach but so far... no dice. I thought I was back on the fast track to my wonderful vegetarian diet, until I ate a baked potato with the skin. I probably should mention that I had roughly 8 graham crackers, 2 apple juices and 2 cranberry juices in the cancer infusion center this morning while I was filling up on 2 liters of saline via IV and catching up with an awesome friend known to most as Bal; short for Rockin' Andy Balazer. Long story short, I saw it all again a few short hours later. Good times.


Stan Puking His Guts Out

Some more good news for Multiple Myeloma Awareness. The Michigan Daily's featured article (here's the first story they broke over six weeks ago if you missed it) leading up to the match up between us and that team down in Ohio will include some shot outs from me as I try my best to explain the definition of a Michigan Man, which is the term used by the Michigan faithful to define the character of the Leaders and Best. There's just something different about wearing the winged helmet and playing in the Big House that is really hard to put into words....it's like trying to explain to your family what Multiple Myeloma is. Rimshot! Thanks to the awesome Courtney for reaching out. Be sure to check out Friday's Michigan Daily for the article.

8 comments:

tim's wife said...

Starting a cycle on the 24th?!!!
You must get some serious anti-hurl medicines on board! Stuffing,
sweet potatoes and cranberry jelly
CANNOT look good in an encore presentation. ;o)

{(C)} said...

Marijuana!

Brett said...

give it a try, it's even legal!

tim's wife said...

Phil,
Before you "spark up the doobage"
if you're thinking of it, check into aspergillosis. It's a fungal pneumonia that MM'ers can get due
to immune compromise and more common when on chemo and doing transplants. The medical stuff is fine but the street stuff can be contaminated by this mold. Check out my blog posting of 12/29/08 for the scoop.
PS.In case you didn't know already, NEVER mix with alcohol or expect a command performance from puking Stan again. If you ask me how I know this, I will plead the
5th!
The memories are hazy now anyway.

Bria said...

Do you know anyone in New Zealand?

http://tinyurl.com/yzrkfxj

It may not completely solve the puking, but ice cream=good, right?

Beth said...

Yes, by all means, get lots of meds! I had
Ondansetron (Zofran) – 8 mg tabs. I think I had 3 a day.
Dexamethasone – 2 mg tabs
Prochlorperazine (Compazine)- 5 mg tabs
Lorazepam (Ativan)- inj 0.5 ml

It really did help!

Unknown said...

Phil,

PLEASE listen to Tim's wife

Brenda

Unknown said...

For the record, I have never taken a puff of a cigarette, cigar or the green stuff; so the likelihood of me getting past my ego and pride to consume something like marijuana will be pretty hard.

Good advice though if I get desperate I'll be sure to get the medical stuff from California and I would definitely not even consider doing that with out the consent of my doc.