The News Is All Good

Stable M-spike and other cancer markers - see the latest post about that.

Neutrophils:

Last Thursday, April Fools Day, the Mayo Clinic lab reported my neutrophils at 940/uL, well below 1700, the bottom of the reference range, and even below the cutoff of 1000, where the pomalidomide trial protocal calls for a reduction in my dosage of pomalidomide. So we re-tested today, at Stillwater Medical Group, and got a count of 1500/uL. That's good - Mayo already called and told me I could stay on the protocol.

But I'm quite surprised that the neutrophil count can jump up that much in just four days. I heard that the count can be improved by exercising before the blood draw, so I did some pushups, a few flights of stairs, and some runner's stretches before heading off to the clinic. But even if that helped the count, is it a true indicator of "neutrophil power" or did it just improve the count temporarily? Your guess is better than mine.

I run about four days a week, but lately haven't been doing any deliberate exercise the other three. If exercise really does help with the neutrophil count, then perhaps I should start every day with a little exercise. Yard work is good!

Liver Enzymes:

• AST: Apr 1 Mayo Clinic 85, range 8-48; Apr 5 Stillwater 27, range 0-40. Down to normal in just 4 days.
• ALT: Apr 1 Mayo Clinic 112, range 7-55; Apr 5 Stillwater 60, range 8-58. Not quite down yet, but close.

I've had liver enzymes go above the reference range before, and then drop right back down to normal the next month, so I wasn't too worried, though this was the highest they've ever been.

I have a theory about why they were high. AST and ALT are enzymes that are produced by the liver when it is injured, but they can also be produced by injury to muscle and maybe even other tissue. When the blood was drawn at Mayo, I had a bruise and an infection in one hand, the same arm from which the blood was drawn, in fact from a vein that takes blood back from the tissue around the injury. Could the enzymes actually be coming from the injured hand? When I suggested this to local Dr L, my primary care physician (PCP), he didn't even laugh out loud. He didn't agree, but he didn't reject the idea either.

Anyway, the injured hand is getting better, if very slowly, and this time I had the blood drawn from the other arm.

Bisphosphonates:

Mayo suggested, though not too strongly, that I might want to start taking alendronate (generic Fosamax) to reduce the risk of breaking a bone, which would likely put an end to my running. But there are risks and possible side effects, some serious. Local Dr L and I discussed this at some length. My T-scores range from -1.1 to -1.7, mild to moderate osteopenia (not osteoporosis). I have no family members with broken bones, or any other risk factors except two years of steroids (dexamethasone). The normal guidelines would not call for treatment at this time. Myeloma is not normal, however, it breaks the rules and sneaks up on us. Dr L thinks we should deal with this by checking the density at least once per year.

For now, no bisphosphonates. I'm OK with that.


Oatmeal underneath, pineapple, papaya, blueberries, kiwi, mango, really big strawberries, kefir, walnuts. Mostly organic.