Thursday, February 11, 2016

No News Is No News

We still don't know if the current immune therapy is working.  Are the vivid PET scan hot spots just "flares" of inflammation caused by my own immune system attacking the myeloma cells, or are they actually increases in the myeloma tumor burden?

Yesterday's MRI of the thoracic spine may give us the answer, when those 3D images are compared with a previous MRI from last October.  That takes an expert radiologist, and results should come today.  A preliminary view seemed to suggest no changes in the bone structure of my vertebrae, but I'd like that confirmed before I run again.

If you haven't heard, a good friend of ours, Pat Killingsworth, is in the hospital with TTP, a blood disorder.  He is unresponsive and on life support.  Here is his blog:  http://multiplemyelomablog.com .  The latest information is in the comments after his most recent post titled, significantly, "I'm Not Dead Yet!"

5 comments:

  1. I hope the hot spots is your immune system attacking the myeloma cells. hope the news is good. My Velcade treatments are amazing. My Kappa and lambda are both in the normal range. the ration is still little high but not much and my m protein went from .5 to .2 I am very jazzed. This after just 8 shots!!
    I just wrote a blog about Pat, I am truly at loss and so sad.

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    1. Thanks Christina,
      I'm so glad that Velcade is working for you. I'll take a look at your Pat post.
      Best, Don

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  2. Anxious to hear your results, Don. Steve is responding well to Kyprolis, Dex and Revlemid after his cancer had become very aggressive, attacking many bones and even organs but looking good so far. I am grieving over Pat. Followed his posts every day and learned so much from him. You are another one I follow so thanks for doing this and kdeep me posted on your results.

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  3. I heard about Pat--he was a warrior!

    Don, you will be fine. The MRI's will come thru for you. Get some sleep tonite, ehh?
    Good Luck.

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