Radiation Follow Up

Monday I had a follow-up visit with Dr. Avizonas, my radiation oncologist. I said I felt well, with no remaining back pain. She did a physical exam and pronounced me well. However, when I did mention the weak wobbly feeling in my legs, which began about the time of the radiation, she ordered an MRI, just to be sure about the radiation's effect on the mass on my backbone.

I received the MRI the next day at Alta View Hospital, near our house in Sandy. On Wednesday, Dr. Avizonas called to report that the MRI showed the mass had shrunken considerably and was no longer impinging on the spinal cord, so there must be some other cause for my weak wobbly legs.

During the week Laraine and I also listened to a web broadcast that summarized the proceedings of the American Society of Hematologists, or ASH, which focused on Multiple Myeloma. Our general impression was that there is incremental progress being made in extending progression-free survival (the disease is not getting worse) and overall survival (the patient didn't die), but no real breakthroughs. There was not any particularly good news for high risk patients like me.

Friday Laraine and I met with my oncologist Dr. Nibley. My blood was tested and my counts were all up, so I didn't need to receive any transfusions. We reviewed the cancer counts from the previous Friday. One of them, the M-spike, was down a tenth at .3, but the other one, IgA, was 3258, up about a thousand from when it was last measured about six weeks ago. But it was probably down from when I began the Velcade treatments, which we neglected to measure at that time.

Dr. Nibley decided to drop the 21-day Velcade cycle and switch to once a week, which studies have proven is just as effective as twice a week. I received my first weekly Velcade shot, and we'll measure the counts in another three weeks.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling pretty good, gradually ramping up my exercise program and getting some projects done around the house.

Laraine didn't have any stroke-related appointments this week, but she is still wearing the heart monitor, which involves four contacts stuck on her torso, an electronic device which the contacts are connected to and which is carried around her neck by a strap, and a dedicated cell phone strapped to her waist, which relays the data to some central computer somewhere. The whole arrangement is driving her crazy.