Today we had our highly anticipated appointment with Dr. Al at the Menomonee Falls clinic. Remember, we meet with Dr. Al once a month on the first day of a new cycle.
First, we had labs.
The initial numbers came back quickly.
Hg - 12.9 up from 12
Platelets - 261 - up from 227
ANC - 1.7 down from 2.7...this one keeps dropping :-/
Total protein holding at 7.0
Calcium 8.0 - up slightly from 7.7
We then went in back and got some vitals checked - Andy's blood pressure has come down significantly and, while still high, is doing much better!
Then his nurse came in. She went through ALL the side effects....none of which Andy is experiencing. She made several remarks, that I was going to write down and didn't, about how incredibly healthy Andy is, how she is the easiest patient she's had all day, how she wishes they were all like this, and etc. Seriously. Besides the fact that his body started dividing immunoglobins uncontrollably, he's incredibly healthy! I joke, but it's not lost on us how incredibly lucky we are that Andy is tolerating his medications so well.
Then Dr. Al. He walks in with a big smile and says, I'm so happy I didn't hear from you all month! This is in reference to the fact that the first round of treatment Andy's numbers were declining so rapidly we were constantly paging Dr. Al to see if he approved treatment or not (as a reminder...he had to deny us treatment once). Not only did I not hear from you, he continued, but your numbers are looking great!
He sat down and pulled up Andy's chart to review our blood numbers with us. All the numbers continue to make 'remarkable' improvement. He reminded us that we won't continue to see the massive drops that we once did and that number progression might look substantially smaller, but they are all still going in the right direction. He was very happy with the IgG number that went from 2.94 to 1.59 in the last month. Reminding us that 50% reduction in a smaller number is smaller...He showed the light chain numbers, see, all going in the right direction, these look good. (Remember, Dana...if Dr. Al isn't worried...YOU aren't worried).
BUT I said...what about that ANC number. It keeps dropping and that one determines if we get treatment or not. He looked at me like I'm crazy (A look I've learned to love from Dr. Al). But it's still about 1, he said. It could still drop more and we could still get treatment. He pulled up the chart that showed Andy's number at .2. That...he said...that was bad. No treatment with .2. We aren't close to that. And, we have things we can do to boost that number if we have to.
So...Dr. Al is telling me not to worry about that either? Wow.
Dr. Al did mention that Andy's Calcium numbers are a little low so we did not do the Zometa shot this time and we'll save it for next month.
He then gave Andy a complete exam and was very happy to hear there was no pain, no bruising or bleeding, and no swelling.
Then he described our next round of treatment. Today we had Velcade and Dara. Andy will start the Revlimid tomorrow.
Next week, we will just get Velcade....no Dara.
The following week, Velcade and Dara.
The following week.....Nothing. NOTHING. Um. What? No blood work? No labs? No appointment? No nothing. Send help guys...we will NOT be okay that week! We love our labs. They give us something tangible in a very very intangible situation.
Dr. Al said that eventually we'll move to Dara monthly and eventually ween off the velcade too. 😮
I get it...we knew this would happen, but it's just weird when you see light in the dark.
So, Dr. Al was very happy. Which means we are very happy. It was a good day.
We went into treatment, got two injections and off we went. Back home. Back to work. Back to life. Tonight Andy is driving kids around to swim practice, picking up milk at Target, you know...all normal things. Not at all acting like he has cancer and just received two injections.
My prayer warriors - Thank You. Please keep up the good work! We feel your continued love and support. Your messages, your cards, your thoughts, and prayers. Thank you.
So that's our update for this week....see you next week!
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