Yesterday evening Stefano and I went to see our family doctor, an absolutely brilliant man, knowledgeable in a variety of fields…not just conventional medicine. My admiration for him would fill more than one post, no question about that. But I digress…
He went through my recent test results carefully, comparing them to my November 2008 results. He told us that yes, the monoclonal component has indeed gone up, BUT, he added, if those increased markers go back down again in the fall (as we all think they will), then we can ascribe this to normal lab variation, nothing more. In other words, this increase isn’t high enough to justify any sleepless nights. (Not that I have been having any sleepless nights, mind you. Indeed, I always sleep like a hibernating bear!)
Conclusion: I am still stable. 😀
This morning my endocrinologist prescribed several truckloads of vitamin D for me…the type that will not increase my serum calcium (that would not be a good thing!). She also confirmed that my kidney functions are fine and dandy. Good to know.
I would like to thank each and every one of you…those who left me public comments and those who dropped me private notes of encouragement. I very much appreciated all your kind and supportive words…and the heaps of suggestions! Paul, your usual stroke of genius. I hadn’t thought of that possibility. Furthermore, after posting my test results, I received a note from one of my blog readers informing me that he had taken the exact same feverfew supplement, for the same amount of time (six months, that is), but took three times the dose that I took. Well, not only did his markers remain stable, but his liver and kidney results were the best he has ever had. Excellent news indeed. So I am definitely not giving up on feverfew. I will give it another whirl…perhaps next fall, after my next set of tests…
In the meantime, this is going to be a great summer! Now please excuse me, Sherlock has sent me a couple of new studies…;-)
My oncologist says it takes 3 uptics of my mspike at monthly intervals to indicate a trend and suggest treatment. This has occurred and I am back on treatment, He chose an old one this time – Melphalan. William Spiller
Margaret,
I was away a few days and…
Anyway, good to know that things seem back to normal.
Admiration for your way of communicating with us very personal feelings!
As others have written, the trend is important, so one result is not enough to be really worried.
And there can be fluctuations within the “stability”.
I might have a reference for the German curcumin your blog reader asked about. I will let you know by mail.
best for now
Sergio
A couple of things: as is described for CLL, it is the trend, not the individual lab result which MUST be used to see what is going on. I will tell you that because of different visits to the doc, I’ve had blood tests on two consecutive days, and they varied a LOT! I know it’s hard to understand, but my WBC (white blood count), used for tracking CLL, jumped from one test to the other by 30,000!
Another odditiy occurred at my famous CLL doc’s lab. My previous counts were in the 200,000 range (normal is 4.5 to 11.0). This count the next week came in at 90,000, a drop of over 50%! That sounds fantastic because I was dosing on watercress (source of PEITC, reputed to attack CLL cells.) I was very happy until the told me the next day to disregard the results; someone forgot to multiply by 2, making the count really 180,000, which was in the range it was before….:(
Also, what is the source or type of vitamin D which does not lead to increased calcium, which can be a problem?
Thanks.
🙂
Yay!! Knew it! Hurrah!!
Hi Margaret
Good to know, I’m seeing my Oncologist today, I hope he will say the same thing.
I found a paper on the summing up on new advances on understanding the mechanism of MM, thought you may be interested.
http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/full/14/3/276
Love and health
Sue
Hey! Hey! Life is good! : )
Glad to hear! You relax and enjoy and take those pills!
That is good news, Margaret!
Enjoy that summer.
Good news, fine to read, Margaret!
Hans
Hi Margaret,
Hope all is well, just found a new study that may interest everyone, “Perspectives for cancer prevention with natural compounds”, I have only got the link for the abstract, you may be able to get the whole thing though.
http://jco.ascopubs.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/16/2712
Love and health
Sue
Margaret, I know the anxiety of those upswings, but the numbers really can bounce around (I’m finally beginning to accept that). I look forward to hearing that your numbers have come down again at next test! Hang in there!
Lisa
PS
What is the correct kind of vitamin D that will not increase serum calcium? can you share?
Thanks!