Nope, not R O L A I D S. š
No. You spell it as follows:Ā S T I L LĀ S T A B L E.
Thatās right. This morning I finally received my February test results (one of Ingrid Michaelson’s songs,Ā “Keep breathing,”Ā has been my theme song in the past week or so, as you can imagine…ooooof!: http://goo.gl/o8Qby). About time, eh! But last Thursday was a national holiday in Italy–the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italyās unification–which affected mail deliveries hereā¦
Anyway, let’s have a look atĀ theseĀ results.Ā I have to admit that I expected themĀ to be terrrrible, since I still had a bit of a cough/chest infectionĀ (=aftermath of the flu) when I went to the lab last monthā¦but I am happy, for once! (hehe),Ā to say I was wrong!
Letās start with theĀ not-so-good results: my white cell countĀ has dropped slightly below the normal range: 4.1Ā (should be at least 4.4). My WBC is the only slightly bad number in my hemochrome, though. Everything else is just peachy…My haemoglobin is even up a wee bit. Oh wait, this is supposed to be an overview of theĀ NOT-SO-GOOD results, Margaretā¦ š
I knew that my total IgG would be highish, and so it was. It went from 3360 mg/dL to 3790. I actually expectedĀ it to be higher, since, I repeat, IĀ was still a bitĀ convalescent. But, as we will see in a sec, this is no big deal in the end…
AnotherĀ not-so-good result, okay, a rather bad one: my vitamin D dropped to 27.1 from last year’s 78.9. Oh, snore!Ā Here I should mention that I stopped taking vitamin D in May 2010Ā when my levels went above the normal range. I didnāt take my vitamin D supplement all summer, in fact, figuring I was getting enough sun…hah. Evidently, I wasn’t!Ā In the fall, IĀ began taking my vit D supplement again, but not on a regular basisā¦So thisĀ nose dive was my own silly fault...
Of course, there is a remedy: from now on I will takeĀ vitamin DĀ religiously every morning. This vitamin D drop,Ā which, incidentally!,Ā might explain why I got such a bad case of the flu early last month, also means that my parathyroid hormone has shot back up to 94…UFFISSIMA! šæĀ Ā At the most, my PTH should be 72 pg/mL. However, I am not concerned about this result, either, since my vitamin D intake should bring it down againā¦
Uric acid: 6.1. That’s a bit high. Now, this number has never goneĀ above the normal range before, so this is a bit of an odd result. I checked my creatinine levels, which are fine, even though they went up ever so slightly (but still way within the normal range)ā¦Hmmm, oh well…next time, it will be lower, for sure.
Okay. Enough. Now for theĀ GOOD stuff! And yes, as you can imagine, there is quite a bit of that. IĀ plan toĀ go down the list, item by item, in order not to miss anything, so what follows is not in order of importance:
My ESR levels dropped from 93 to 36 mm/hour. Why, that is ALMOST normal!!! I checked previous blood tests, and my ESR hasnāt been that low since I progressed to SMM (= in 2005). Celebrate!
Total protein: down slightly, from 9.8 to 9.5.
Beta-2 microglobulin: from 2.6 to 2.4.
C-reactive protein: from 0.23 to 0.09. The lowest it has been in a looooong time.
UPDATE (oops, forgot to put this in yesterday). Calcium: down to 8.9 from 9.4. š
Bence Jones: negative.
IgA and IgM, still holding at 14 and 10 (mg/dL), respectively. My little heroesā¦
Albumin, now in the normal range: 4.65.
Gammaglobulin is down ever so slightly: 3.09 from 3.12 g/dL.Ā
M-spike: down from 2.98 to 2.92. Yes, again, this minusculeĀ drop is nothing to getĀ overly excited about, but hey, I am thrilled thatĀ it has gone down, not up! True, allĀ the above numbers have barely changed at all, but all those itsy bitsyĀ fluctuations are going in the right direction, which is just FINE and DANDY with me! Indeed, I think it’s time nowĀ for a little dance of joy (to Sara Bareilles’ “King of Anything”: http://goo.gl/ZaEga)ā¦
Back to us: everything else shows no change, hence my conclusion that I am stableā¦
Still stable, after all these years…trallallerotralalĆ !
Yippee!!!!!! Read this too late to call you,but soon! have a chocolate to celebrate! Dark, of course!
Wonderful news, Margaret! They are numbers worth waiting for – hurray! Keep up the good work!
finalmente! ero un po’ in ansia per te…ogni giorno mi collegavo al tuo blog proprio per vedere se ti erano arrivati i risultati degli esami…ottime notizie!!
sono proprio felice š
grande festa stasera š
Sono molto felice per te. Anche noi siamo ormai del curcumino… A presto
Soooooo happy for you Margaret! Good job! š I was beginning to think I’d missed seeing the results, cuz it seemed to take forever for them to get here! Keep up the good work…uhhhh…good health! š Donna
Hip hip hurray! You go, girl! š
Margaret,
You are an angel. You keep hope and common sense alive.
We have kept you and your tests in our thoughts and prayers.
So happy for your results.
We were just discussing the very issue of our two oncologists
really not addressing any treatment beyond waiting etc.
However a doctor, head of department at a teaching university,
that we are seeing for glaucoma (under control with laser)
took the time to discuss with us the positive studies of curcumin and reservatrol. Go figure, tiny inroads.
I recently read some research that claimed vitamin D supplements were better absorbed if taken with the largest meal of the day.
Que bueno!! Delighted to see those great stats!
Bellissime notizie! Congratulazioni!!!!!
per la vit. D (anche a me era scesa parecchio), la nostra prof. mi ha suggerito di prendere il dibase da 25.000, una al mese. E’ nuova ed ĆØ meglio del 100.000
smile baby š
Sherlock
Wonderful, exciting news! Celebration time! Congrats Margaret š
These numbers look so good I was wondering if you have your current protocol listed somewhere.
Thanks, everyone! š Incidentally, yesterday I forgot to give you my (serum) calcium result, so I updated my post today…see the bit in bold. More good news…
Sherlock carissima, mi piace piĆ¹ l’idea di prendere qualcosa in piccole dosi TUTTI i giorni, invece di una megadose una volta ogni tanto, specie dopo aver letto i risultati di quello studio (australiano, mi pare) in cui era stata somministrata a donne in menopausa un’unica megadose di vit D, mi pare 500000 IU, una volta all’anno…Ebbene, dopo qualche anno, se non ricordo male, queste donne hanno avuto piĆ¹ fratture rispetto alle donne nel gruppo di controllo…Secondo me, insomma, chi va piano va sano e va lontano…
Debi, last month I wasn’t testing anything new, mainly because I was concentrating on getting rid of my cough. So my main supplement, as always!, was curcumin…And, when I got better, I added my usual amount of fish oil and quercetin. That’s it.
I plan to test something new in the next few months, though. Still haven’t decided what…hmmm…
Absolutely SUPER!!!
Good news, Margaret! Super!
Great Margaret!! I like stable things š
I’m happy and am celebrating with you.
Hope you feel better now.
Best wishes!
wonderful news Margaret!
any one any suggestions for taking Quercetin without food? i’m no good at swallowing without food and i know you’re supposed to have Quercetin on its own.
Many thanks!
Clare London
How wonderful Margaret,
And, if your M-spike was down while your IgG went up, you must really have been sick! Glad you’re better.
Best, Don
Exciting news!!
Congratulations for being stable for 5-6 years !
Now the statistics will be much more friendlier for you to stay stable, forever I hope.
It would appear I didn’t comment when I first saw this it was clearly a case of cba (can’t be a****) to quote a friend! ;D Congratulations on being stable in the most important way at least!
Hi Margaret, last July 2011 my dad was diagnosed with MM stage III. He is on chemo now. Only a few weeks before i saw your blog. I am reading it almost everyday and have asked my mom to give broccoli, milk + cur cumin , black cumin seeds (powdered). I am planning to give it for 2 months and wait for the results. But what bothers me most is the beta 2 microglobulin numbers. 6 months back it was around 3000ng/l. But now it has raised to 4300ng/L which ,i feel, is very high. Do you have any specific food which can thrash this beta 2 micro globulin. Please advise