Friday, October 19, 2012

Dr. Brian Durie Discusses Nutrition

All organic except the beef,
which is 100% grass fed.
Dr. Durie is a well-known expert in myeloma, always up to date with the newest trial results, treatments, and diagnostic tools. In a way he is the doctor of all of us, through the International Myeloma Foundation.

Now he has done it again. Though he claims not to be an expert on nutrition, he gave a very up-to-date and on-point discussion of modern anti-cancer nutrition in his October 11 teleconference Living Well with Myeloma - 10 Steps to Better Nutrition. Click that link to get both the audio of his teleconference talk and a PDF file of the slides that go with the talk.

Proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep - these are ways that we myelomiacs can improve our own quality of life and even the course of our own disease. Dr. Durie's talk is a wonderful start.

Breaking News:

On October 18, Dr. Durie published a blog post responding to some of the questions raised in his teleconference talk. Also recommended reading.

Be fit, be strong, be well.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Stable After 60 Cycles

Wednesday, October 17, 2012:

Last month IgG edged up slightly from 1180 to 1210 mg/dL, and this month it dropped back to 1180. M-spike has been at 1.0 g/dL (1000 mg/dL) for several months now. Lambda light chains dropped from last month, while kappa chains increased, so the ratio increased, and that's supposed to be good. After 60 cycles on the pomalidomide (CC-4047) study, 28 days each, my myeloma remains solidly stable.

Naturally I have some favorable opinions about pomalidomide, which I expressed in a previous post. Hopefully, it will be approved by the FDA soon.

My family and I have run a marathon in each of 48 states now, in our quest for all 50. Albuquerque, New Mexico is next, and finally Hololulu, Hawaii in December. We're having a good time and coming toward the finish. More about running in my running blog and my sweetie's blog.

Most-Recent Test Results:

Test    Jul 26    Aug 23    Sep 20    Oct 17     Remarks
M-spike g/dL 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 \ Tumor marker no change
IgG mg/dL 1090 1180 1210 1180 / Tumor marker down slightly
Lambda mg/dL 2.30 2.72 2.61 2.38 L free light chains
Calcium mg/dL 9.7 9.6 9.7 10.0 OK
Creatinine mg/dL 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.3 Kidney, a bit higher
HGB g/dL 14.5 14.5 15.1 15.7 Hemoglobin, great
RBC M/uL 4.05 4.09 4.22 4.35 Red cells, a little low
WBC K/uL 4.9 4.3 3.7 4.4 White cells, low
ANC K/uL 2.20 1.90 1.70 1.90 Neutrophils, OK

Related Links:

My Myeloma     A discussion of my myeloma, not very technical.
My Treatment History Not technical.
My Test Charts Graphic displays of several key test results over time.
My Test Result Table Somewhat technical. Best with a wide browser window.
My Supplement Regimen With links to where I buy them.