Sunday, June 3, 2012

ASCO 2012 - Blog Post # 2

ASCO deals with all cancers, not just blood cancers, and many sessions are taking place at once. However Sunday, June 3, was "Myeloma Day." That session ran from 8:00 am to 11:00 am and included 12 talks. Some were rather researchy (new word) but several were of immediate interest.

Carfilzomib/Revlimid/dexamethasone (dex):

At the ASH conference in December, Dr Andrzej J. Jakubowiak had showed that the combination of carfilzomib, Revlimid, and dexamethasone was extremely effective for newly-diagnosed patients. Today Dr Jakubowiak showed that extended treatment produces even better responses, with over 64% achieving a "stringent" complete response, where no myeloma cells can be identified by the best measurement techniques. Further, responses appear to be very durable over time.

Bendamustine/Velcade/dex:

Dr Philippe Rodon of France described a study demonstrating that bendamustine, an alkylating agent, can help some heavily-pretreated patients when added to a Velcade/dex regimen. This may be true even when the patient's disease no longer responds to Velcade/dex.

Panobinostat/Velcade/dex:

Dr Melissa Alsina described a Phase II study showing that panobinostat, added to a Velcade/dex regimen, can rescue some patients whose myeloma has proven resistant to most treatments, including Velcade/dex. The overall response rate was 31%.

Carfilzomib versus Velcade:

Both of these drugs are proteasome inhibitors - they target a particular part of the cell, especially plasma cells. The two drugs have not been compared in a head-to-head study, but Dr Robert Orlowski did his best to compare them anyway, using data from comparable studies. A study of carfilzomib/melphalan/prednisone, and another of Velcade/melphalan/prednisone showed almost equal efficacy, though Velcade caused more neuropathy. Carfilzomib is looking good, but all studies of Velcade have used intravenous Velcade. Modern comparisons should use sub-Q Velcade, and once-weekly at most.

Cyclophosphamide/carfilzomib/thalidomide/dex:

Ouch. Dr Joseph Mikhael presented the results of this 4-drug study, with newly-diagnosed patients. It achieved a high response rate, 83% "very good partial response," but at the cost of many Grade 3 toxicities. Grade 3 is severe enough to significantly interfere with a patient's health or comfort, and generally requires a dosage reduction. Dr Orlowski suggested dropping the thalidomide and trying just the other three.

Bisphosphonate Therapy:

Dr Gareth J Morgan described studies showing that Zometa, compared with Aredia, results in a significant improvement in overall survival (!). Zometa causes more osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), however, almost 4% reporting it, compared with 1% for Aredia. Most of the ONJ occurs in the first 36 months of treatment. ONJ appeared to be less in patients being treated with thalidomide. Some of the ONJ events seemed to be related to dental procedures.

Pomalidomide/dex:

Dr Ravi Vij described a study comparing showing that pomalidomide can be effective in a population of heavily-pretreated patients whose myeloma is resistant to both Velcade and Revlimid. In one arm of the study, patients got pom/dex, while the other arm received pom alone. Response rate was 30% for the dex arm, and 9% for the pom-only arm. The difference in time of survival was not as dramatic. Bottom line - take your pom with dex. Sorry about that.

MLN9708:

This is an exciting new proteasome inhibitor, like Velcade and carfilzomib, but can be taken at home as a pill. Dr Sagar Lonial described a Phase I study with heavily-pretreated patients. A Phase I study is designed to find the maximum tolerable dose of a drug, and determine other safety factors, rather than to determine the drug's treatment efficacy. However, many of these patients did achieve good responses or stable disease. There was very little peripheral neuropathy.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

ASCO 2012 - Blog Post # 1

Dr. S. Vincent Rajkumar, of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, outlined what seems to be Mayo Clinic's current standard of care for newly-diagnosed patients. Title: Upfront Therapy for Myeloma - Tailoring Therapy Across the Disease Spectrum. This is a very significant talk. With it, he presented a flow chart for determining the best initial treatment for a newly-diagnosed patient.

He suggests first stratifying a patient's disease according to risk as determined by cytogenetic testing (wacky chromosomes) or by unusual espressions of disease:
  • The highest-risk patients typically live only two to three years after diagnosis, and not much has been done to improve that. His description of treatments for these patients is beyond the scope of this blog post.
  • Medium-risk patients are those with a specific genetic translocation (t4;14), which he says can be converted to standard-risk by the use of Velcade. Not some other novel drug, but Velcade.
  • Standard-risk patients have a wide array of available treatments before them, and the real question for the doctor is, which should s/he recommend.
He then suggests classifying the standard risk patient once more, according to eligibility for transplant, determined not so much by age as by health factors such as diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, and other "comorbidities." For those eligible for transplant:
  • Use Revlimid/dexamethasone (Rd) or Velcade/cyclophosphamide/dex (VCd) as an induction regimen for four cycles. To reduce the risk of treatment- limiting neuropathy, Velcade should be given once weekly, not twice weekly, or given subcutaneously.
  • If the patient achieves a good response after four cycles, then stem cells can be harvested and stored.
  • After stem cell harvest the patient may be offered the choice of an immediate autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) or continued treatment with the induction regimen.
  • A transplant is an aggressive treatment approach by any measure, aiming for a complete response but carrying significant risks, while the continuing induction regimen can be thought of as the beginning of a "sequential disease control approach that emphasizes quality of life as well as survival." In this second approach, another regimen will be tried when the original one fails. At present there are no data showing clear superiority of one approach over the other.
Transplant ineligible patients are usually elderly and have medical complications. Some points:
  • Rev/dex (Rd) is commonly used in the USA. The optimum duration is not clear, but dexamethasone is usually lowered to a minimal amount or discontinued after a year.
  • Thalidomide/dex is inferior to melphalan/prednisone and should not be used for these patients.
  • Melphalan/prednisone/Revlimid (MPR) is not more effective than MP without Revlimid, he says. However, melphalan/prednisone/thalidomide (MPT) is superior to MP alone. An improvement is also likely if Velcade is added to the MP combination, although neuropathy is a risk. Cyclophosphamide can be substituted for the melphalan to reduce side effects.
  • Having said all of that, he believes that Rev/dex (Rd) or Velcade/cyclophosphamide/dex (VCD) may be the best choices for this group, just as they are for the transplant-eligible patients. VCD is preferred for patients with kidney issues.
Final thought: The two endpoints that matter to the patient are length of survival and quality of life.


McCormick Place in Chicago is the largest convention center in the USA, and the ASCO convention brings to it over 30,000 clinical oncologists from all over the world.

Mark Fearing Died Today

Myeloma claims another one.  Mark and his wife Carol have been regulars at myeloma support group meetings in Minnesota.  Recently he ran out of treatment options, and entered hospice.  You can pass your condolences to Carol on Mark's Caring Bridge site.

We will miss him.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

They Know Me on Sight

I walked toward the hematology desk at Mayo Clinic and was greeted by name before I got there. No one wants to be that familiar at that desk, though of course it's a compliment to the sweet technician who remembered me. Imagine how many people she sees in a day, not to mention a month. Good news again today, though, at the end of the 55th 28-day cycle on the pomalidomide study, my numbers are stable once more.  I'm going to write a country-western song about pomalidomide .. my secret love, takin' me to bed every night, keepin' me alive ...

Cancer markers:

IgG is down about 6%, from 1210 to 1140 mg/dL, but it goes up and down a bit, and the difference may be within the measurement accuracy of the test. M-spike is unchanged at 1.1 g/dL. Lambda and kappa light chains both dropped slightly, though the ratio is about the same and I don't really know what the light chains mean anyway.

For the second straight month every other blood marker of any significance was within the reference range, even the red blood cell count. I feel very good, too, and I'm running well, considering recent surgery. I had been concerned about calcium, but it's been well within the reference range for three months now, so I'm sure I have no dissolving bones.

ASCO:

The annual meeting of the Americal Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will be held in Chicago this coming weekend, and my sweeties and I have been invited to attend. We will be helping to staff an advocacy booth supported by the International Myeloma Foundation, and blogging about new myeloma research. We might even go for a nice run on the Chicago Lakeshore Trail.

Advocacy Issues:
  • Early Access to Emerging Treatments: Current rules often prevent doctors and their patients from trying new treatments, even if the patient is dying. We as a nation want to prevent patients from suffering unexpected side effects, of course, but for dying patients the side effect of NO treatment is worse.
  • Oral Drug Parity: Some expensive, targeted cancer treatments are administered as infusions in a clinic, while others are pills, taken at home. Because prescription drug coverage almost always has a much higher co-pay and deductible than the medical insurance that covers in-clinic infusions, patients whose best treatment option is a pill can be faced with bills as high as $10,000 per month. Some states have passed legislation requiring insurers to cover oral treatments on terms no less favorable than in-clinic treatments, and federal legislation is proposed.  It can't come soon enough.
More to come ...

Most-Recent Test Results:

Test    Mar 08    Apr 04    May 04    May 29     Remarks
M-spike g/dL 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 \ Tumor marker
IgG mg/dL 1100 1290 1210 1140 / Tumor marker
Lambda mg/dL 2.80 2.24 2.75 2.53 L Free light chains
Calcium mg/dL 10.3 9.6 10.0 9.7 OK
Creatinine mg/dL 1.0 1.2 1.0 1.2 Kidney, OK
HGB g/dL 14.2 14.6 15.6 15.7 Hemoglobin, OK
RBC M/uL 3.86 4.08 4.31 4.37 Red cells, not bad
WBC K/uL 3.7 6.1 5.3 4.6 White cells, OK  
ANC K/uL 1.70 1.50 2.70 1.80 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.

Everything here is organic except the oatmeal in the meat loaf (we don't know where to get oatmeal that is both organic and gluten free). Yes that's a dill pickle in a sweet potato:

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Revlimid and Second Primary Cancers

Newly-diagnosed patients:

Last Monday, May 7, 2012, the FDA issued a Drug Safety Communication which says, in part, "in clinical trials of patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma, those patients treated with Revlimid had an increased risk of developing new cancers." These are also called "second primary cancers."

If you are considering Revlimid as initial treatment or as a maintenance treatment, you may wish to read on before you lean very heavily on that FDA statement:
  • The FDA statement contains no new information. The facts on which the statement is based are from three well-known studies on newly-diagnosed patients, and are over a year old. If your doctor doesn't already know of these studies, it's time to get a new doctor.

  • Since one year ago, new information about those studies has been made available, and it is not clear to me that the FDA used that information.

  • The three studies are all different, with somewhat different objectives, and none was specifically designed to reveal the frequency of second primary cancers. They were meant to show the difference in progression-free survival and overall survival, comparing Revlimid maintenance with a placebo, after transplant or other initial treatment.  The Myeloma Beacon has a good description of the three studies.

  • Analysis by FDA and others may be wrong, and this may be one reason:
    • All three studies demonstrated that Revlimid maintenance does extend the time to relapse.
    • In some cases the patients on maintenance had twice as much time, or even more, before relapse.
    • Therefore, patients on Revlimid maintenance had much more time to develop second cancers before relapse than did patients on the placebo.
    • It appears that some of the studies, if not all three, stopped looking for second primary cancers once a patient had relapsed.
    • Thus, we would expect patients in the Revlimid arm to collect more second primary cancers, just because they had more time to do so.

  • Even if Revlimid treatment did result in more second primary cancers, that risk may be lower than the risks from not taking it.
Patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma:

The FDA also reviewed results from two clinical trials which supported the initial FDA approval of Revlimid. I find their description of the data to be confusing at best, but in the worst interpretation of it, patients on Revlimid with high-dose dexamethasone experienced fewer than four second primary cancers per 100 patients per year.

Bottom line:

I'm not a doctor, but I have opinions anyway, and in my opinion, the FDA Safety Communication should not be an occasion to change any decisions about using Revlimid, which is still one of the best treatment options available. Other very smart doctors are trying to make sense of this issue as we speak, and we should wait until better information is available.

I admit to a little bias on this issue, because: (1) I take pomalidomide continuously. It is a close relative to Revlimid, and I don't want to think about second primary cancers from that; and (2) I like Celgene, the makers of both drugs. However, I really don't think that we have enough information yet to even say for sure that Revlimid poses a greater risk of second primary cancers than no treatment at all.

Please comment, especially if you have any corrections or suggestions about facts or reasoning in this blog post. Please let me know. Thanks.

We Lost Another One

Mike Olson, from Menominee WI, participated regularly in the Stillwater, MN support group meetings, and was instrumental in starting a support group in Eau Claire, WI.  Mike's myeloma was aggressive, however, eventually overwhelming every treatment Mike's doctors could offer.  After a couragous and exhausting battle, Mike died at home Thursday, May 10, 2012.  We will miss him.

Here is the obituary.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Cycle 54, Still Stable

At the end of the 54th 28-day cycle on the pomalidomide study, I'm happy with the results once again. It's good stuff.

Cancer markers:

IgG is down slightly, from 1290 to 1210 mg/dL, but the difference may be within the measurement accuracy of the test. M-spike is unchanged at 1.1 g/dL. Lambda and kappa light chains did their usual dance, this time lambda chains are up slightly, but I doubt it means anything.

Every other blood marker of any significance was within the reference range, even the red blood cell count. I feel very good, too.

Anniversary:

Sunshine and I have recently begun the 50th year of our marriage. We're having a lot of fun running marathons in each of the 50 states, but 49 years of marriage is far more significant and satisfying.

Most-Recent Test Results:

Test    Feb 07    Mar 08    Apr 04    May 04     Remarks
M-spike g/dL 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.1 \ Tumor marker
IgG mg/dL 1280 1100 1290 1210 / Tumor marker
Lambda mg/dL 1.99 2.80 2.24 2.75 L Free light chains
Calcium mg/dL 10.2 10.3 9.6 10.0 Normal
Creatinine mg/dL 1.0 1.0 1.2 1.0 Kidney, OK
HGB g/dL 15.2 14.2 14.6 15.6 Hemoglobin, OK
RBC M/uL 4.18 3.86 4.08 4.31 Red cells, not bad
WBC K/uL 4.5 3.7 6.1 5.3 White cells, normal
ANC K/uL 2.40 1.70 1.50 2.70 Neutrophils, normal

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.

Normal Breakfast:

Monday, April 30, 2012

I Had Fun Today

I had a chance today to address employees of Celgene, makers of pomalidomide, the investigational drug that has kept my myeloma stable for more than four years now.  I'm grateful for the drug, and told them so.  They seemed pleased, and I had a lot of fun.

Celgene recently announced that they have submitted pomalidomide to the FDA for approval, see previous post.  I will be delighted when the drug is accessible to even more people.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Pomalidomide Submitted for FDA Approval

I'm so delighted.  Pomalidomide, by Celgene, is the new, innovative anti-cancer drug which has kept my myeloma stable for four years now, in a drug trial.  That trial and other trials have demonstrated that pomalidomide is a powerful combatant in the fight against myeloma.  When pomalidomide is available to everyone it will benefit many, many patients.  For some, it will save their lives.

If all goes very well, the FDA could approve pomalidomide as soon as this fall.

Here is a great article on Celgene's April 26 announcement, by the International Myeloma Foundation.

The other very promising drug on the immediate horizon is carfilzomib, by Onyx, submitted for FDA approval last September and well on its way to approval.  It uses a different mechanism than pomalidomide for fighting myeloma, and there is even a trial underway to determine how well they might work together.

Things are happening.  Never stop hoping.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Another Good Result at Mayo

At the end of the 53rd 28-day cycle on the pomalidomide study, I'm happy with the results once again.

Cancer markers: IgG is up slightly, from 1100 to 1290 mg/dL, but that's where it was in November and February, so it's not scary, and part of the increase may be good IgG responding to the surgery. M-spike came up a bit too, 1.0 to 1.1 g/dL, but that increase was less than the increase in IgG. That's fine. Lambda and kappa light chains did their usual bounce too, this time down, nicely into the reference range.

Neutrophils: These cells are the first responders of the immune system, always on the alert, and they are up 250% from last month. Since there is no evidence of any infection, Dr LH believes that this increase is my body's normal response to the hernia surgery 16 days ago. See Too Late to Back Out Now. Actually, I'm tickled to see that my supposedly-compromised immune system is able to respond that well to a perceived threat.

Calcium: Last month calcium was 10.3 mg/dL, slightly over the top of the range, but today it was 9.6, comfortably below. Dr L said that hydration makes a big difference, and I did make an effort to hydrate properly this time. Now I'm a believer. One happy interpretation of the reduction is that last month's high reading most likely did not come from bone lesions, because those don't stop sending calcium into the blood.

Rash from Bactrim: I mentioned to Dr LH that Bactrim (sulfamethoxazole) caused a rash on my leg. She asked if I had confirmed that by going off until the rash went away, then going back on again. I have not confirmed it, though the time-correlation was too stark for me to doubt. I may get a chance to confirm it sometime in the future, but I'm not going to take Bactrim as a prophylaxis, only if I know of an infection that it might fix.

Most-Recent Test Results:

Test    Jan 12    Feb 07    Mar 08    Apr 04     Remarks
M-spike g/dL 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.1 \ Tumor marker
IgG mg/dL 1190 1280 1100 1290 / Tumor marker
Lambda mg/dL 2.24 1.99 2.80 2.24 L Free light chains
Calcium mg/dL 10.0 10.2 10.3 9.6 High
Creatinine mg/dL 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.2 Kidney, OK
HGB g/dL 15.1 15.2 14.2 14.6 Hemoglobin, OK
RBC M/uL 4.36 4.18 3.86 4.08 Red cells, low
WBC K/uL 4.8 4.5 3.7 6.1 White cells, normal
ANC K/uL 2.40 1.70 1.50 3.80 Neutrophils, way up

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.

Crocuses seem to shout, don't they!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Celebrating Four Years on Pomalidomide

This month is the fourth anniversary of my start in the pomalidomide study, and today is the end of the 52nd 28-day cycle. The news is pretty good.

Bones: Because calcium has been a little high lately, suggesting a possible bone issue, we did a skeletal survey and a bone density scan today. Quote from bone survey report: "Generalized spotty osteopenia without localized lytic lesions. No change since 3/4/09." That works for me! Although x-ray doesn't always show myeloma lesions, this report means that I probably do not have a bone on the verge of breaking. Furthermore, the bone density measurements were the same as two years ago, within the measurement accuracy of the DEXA system, so my overall bone health is good. That's all good news. I do not take Fosamax, but I do take Vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2 (not Vitamin K).

Cancer markers: IgG dropped significantly, from 1280 to 1100 mg/dL, and M-spike obediently followed, dropping from 1.1 to 1.0 g/dL, where it hasn't been since last September. That's very nice. I doubt it's a trend, but wouldn't that be great? Lambda light chains are up, from 1.99 to 2.80 mg/dL, but kappa chains are up too and anyway I'm not sure that light chains are an important marker in my particular myeloma.

Other: Calcium is still high, at 10.3 mg/dL, but that could be a lingering effect from the marathon last Sunday. Some dehydration happens in a marathon, like it or not, and recovery takes a while. Liver markers are at the top of the reference range, too, but we might attribute that to the marathon as well. Neither is an issue right now. Both the red blood cell count and the white cell count are a bit lower than usual though, and I don't know what to think of that. We'll see what they do next month. Actual counts are shown below.

Doctor L:
  • I pointed to a rash on my leg, suggesting that it might be from the Bactrim DS antibiotic that I've been taking, or perhaps it could be from shingles. She said that it could be the Bactrim, which has a reputation for causing rashes, but that it wasn't shingles. I was taking the Bactrim to deal with an infection in my jaw, a bad tooth, but the tooth is getting better after some dental work and I stopped the Bactrim a few days ago. The rash looks a little better already, but not enough yet to know for sure that Bactrim was the cause.
  • I asked again how long I can remain on the pomalidomide study, and she confirmed that I can probably take it until my myeloma no longer responds to it. She knows of one myemomiac who was in the first Revlimid study and is still on it after eight years.
  • We discussed my sports hernia (abdominal wall strain, athletic pubalgia) and she actually suggested acupuncture. Some of her patients have found great relief from neuropathy through acupuncture, when all else failed. This is about healing, not pain relief, but who knows? I'm actively seeking an acupuncturist - willing to try anything to avoid surgery.

Most-Recent Test Results:

Test    Dec 14    Jan 12    Feb 07    Mar 08     Remarks
M-spike g/dL 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.0 \ Tumor marker
IgG mg/dL 999 1190 1280 1100 / Tumor marker
Lambda mg/dL 3.15 2.24 1.99 2.80 L Free light chains
Calcium mg/dL 10.3 10.0 10.2 10.3 High
Creatinine mg/dL 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 Kidney, OK
HGB g/dL 15.1 15.1 15.2 14.2 Hemoglobin, OK
RBC M/uL 4.17 4.36 4.18 3.86 Red cells, low
WBC K/uL 4.8 4.8 4.5 3.7 White cells, low-norm
ANC K/uL 1.90 2.40 1.70 1.50 Neutrophils, low

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.


Two lovely volunteers with the three of us after the B&A Trail Marathon last Sunday:

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Mixed Results

End of the 51st Cycle of Pomalidomide (CC-4047):

As often happens, some of the myeloma blood markers are up this month, some down. M-Spike is down from 1.2 to 1.1 g/dL, but IgG is up from 1190 to 1280 mg/dL. I don't know which to believe, so I'm calling it a draw, meaning "stable" in cancer lingo. For good measure, Lambda light chains are down from 2.24 to 1.99 mg/dL, while Kappa chains went up, making the ratio go up, which in my case is good. I think. Maybe. As Dr L said, "We'll take it."

I take a little capsule containing 2 mg of pomalidomide every night, and every 28 days my family and I drive the 80 miles to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, where I have blood tests and the occasional ECG or X-ray. Next month will mark four full years on the pomalidomide study. I'm a satisfied customer!

Some of the discussion with Dr. L:
  • A previous doc at Mayo had given me a prescription for bactrim, an antibiotic, to be taken daily to ward off a pneumonia which attacks people with compromised immune systems. Dr. L gives the same prescription for people in my situation when dexamethasone (DEX) is part of the regimen, but not otherwise, and I am no longer taking DEX, so she did not renew the prescription. OK, the fewer medications the better.
  • I mentioned to Dr. L that the neuropathy in my fingers is slowly advancing. For example, I recently felt a suspicious blueberry between thumb and forefinger to see if it was soft or firm, but I couldn't tell without picking it up to check it more closely. She asked if I had tried acupuncture, and remarked that a few of her other patients seemed to have some success with it. I might try it, but right now the neuropathy doesn't really affect my quality of life. Yet.
  • Calcium was up again, slightly above the reference level. Dr. L thought it might be due to slight dehydration, especially since my blood draw was at 10 am rather than the usual 6 am and I can't take fluids until the blood draw. I think that's probably right. Anyway I have a skeletal survey and a bone density test scheduled for next month, so if the calcium is an indicator of bone loss, there is a pretty good chance of catching it.
Peripheral Neuropathy (PN):

The International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) recently issued Guidelines for the Management of Treatment-Emergent Peripheral Neuropathy in Multiple Myeloma. This is a very comprehensive document which I recommend to anyone dealing with neuropathy caused by myeloma treatments. It discusses drugs, supplements, physical therapy, acupuncture, chemotherapy dose modification, and even prevention of PN. It's a guide for both doctors and patients.

If that link doesn't work, use this one, a verbatim copy of just the document on another web site.

Some Recent Test Results:

Test    Nov 17    Dec 14    Jan 12    Feb 07     Remarks
M-spike g/dL 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.1 \ Tumor marker
IgG mg/dL 1280 999 1190 1280 / Tumor marker
Lambda mg/dL 2.12 3.15 2.24 1.99 L Free light chains
Calcium mg/dL 10.3 10.3 10.0 10.2 High
Creatinine mg/dL 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 Kidney, OK
HGB g/dL 15.0 15.1 15.1 15.2 Hemoglobin, OK
RBC M/uL 4.18 4.17 4.36 4.18 Red cells, low
WBC K/uL 5.3 4.8 4.8 4.5 White cells, normal
ANC K/uL 1.70 1.90 2.40 1.70 Neutrophils, normal

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.


Oatmeal pancake. Might even be a bit of maple syrup on it: