Day 6 of Cycle One

Wahoo!

Good CBC.  As part of my new myeloma regimen, we do a CBC with differential at the end of each of the first three weeks, just before taking the next dose of the Primary Drug.  I get that done at the local clinic, with the results sent to Mayo Clinic.

I'm not a doctor, but I know what my doctors want to see in the CBC, and by that standard I'm doing great:

• White blood count is 5.8 k/uL, higher than I remember seeing it in years and well within the reference range.  
• Neutrophils, which have been lower than they should be and which we have watched with apprehension, are 3.5 k/uL, perfectly normal.  
• Platelets are 172 k/uL, on the low side but about where they have recently been and also well within the reference range.  

We don't yet know if the first dose of this new regimen is fighting the myeloma, but the CBC at least suggests that it isn't hurting me.  I don't yet detect any side effects from it.  Tomorrow I'll take the second dose.  Three weeks from now we'll find out what is happening to IgG, M-Spike, and light chains.  I don't know when we'll look at the bright spinal lesion revealed by the recent PET scan, but PET is the only way to see it, so I hope we'll do that in a few months to confirm that the light has been extinguished.