No Bence Jones!!!

chicken-cartoonWow. I haven’t been this sick in…ages. On Saturday morning, I woke up with a nasty sore throat, symptom no. 1. But Stefano and I had already made plans to go outside of Florence, not a pleasure trip by any means ( = long story that wouldn’t add anything useful to this post), and I didn’t want to back out. So, after coffee and Manuka honey, off we went. By the late afternoon, the sore throat had vanished, but symptom no. 2 was about to rear its ugly head: THE DREADED COUGH. Whenever I’m about to get a cough, I get a strange, almost metallic taste in my mouth. I know it sounds odd, but that taste always precedes THE COUGH. As soon as we got back to Florence, therefore, I took an antibiotic. Good thing I did… Sunday, same thing. We couldn’t leave a job half done, so, instead of being able to sleep it off (which might have made this “thing” a bit less virulent), I was up and about the entire day. By the afternoon, THE COUGH had set in…and, yes, it was bad. To make a long story mercifully short, I haven’t really been out of bed since Monday. And, as though the debilitating cough weren’t enough, a fever set in, too. Today, thus far, is my first day without fever, and my cough is 90% gone. And so I’m up and about,…officially convalescent… 🙂 But the point of this post is not about my stupid spring “flu.” It’s about my test results. Yes, I had tests done last week…luckily, days before I got sick. Compared to my July 2016 tests, these April tests are so much better:

  • No Bence Jones. Back in July, a small amount of Bence Jones appeared in my urine. Its disappearance is excellent news.
  • ESR: the lowest it’s been since 2012.
  • Creatinine, calcium, CRP, etc.: all good.
  • Total IgG is down several mg compared to July. Indeed, compared to July of 2015, it is down a full 1000 mg.
  • My IgA went from a terrible 5 to a less terrible 6. You know, this is the FIRST time ever that I’ve experienced an increase in one of the other two immunoglobulins. A small increase, for sure, but for me it’s very exciting, even though 6 is nowhere near 70, which marks the beginning of the normal range, of course…
  • My m-spike and monoclonal component have both gone down. Yay!
  • My Freelite chain numbers: much much better.

My hemoglobin, however, has dipped under the normal range again. Just slightly, so it should be an easy fix. Nothing else sticks out to me…I mean, apart from the fact that I STILL have smoldering myeloma! Duh!  😉  But…I’m stable. Ah, before I go back to bed to watch another documentary, I have one more thing to tell you. A note on one of my test result sheets reads…in Italian, of course: “Paziente già conosciuto. Il tracciato elettroforetico non presenta variazioni significative rispetto ai precedenti,” which means: “The patient is well-known. The electrophoresis graph shows no significant changes compared to previous ones.” No significant changes…I definitely like the sound of that!!!

4 Comments

  1. Glad you’re getting better. Did you get a flu shot?

    It may just be me and/or the fact that I had a flu shot, but when I got the flu, Advil completely eliminated the fever, incessant cough, and stuffy nose for 4 hours. It was like I wasn’t sick while I was on Advil. On the other hand, my grand kids got really sick.

    Also, glad your numbers are better. Have you tried either Cell-Forte or IP6 Gold’s IP6/inositol? I think it makes a bigger difference on my numbers than the curcumin. I also wrote TAB and seemed to feel the same way. I take both IP6/inositol(8 a day) and curcumin (4mg).

    Stay well.

  2. Hi Margaret;

    Glad to learn your myeloma remains dormant.

    Your Godson is well and has been a wonderful companion through our long, long winter.

    I am wellish … Undergoing significant but successful therapy. I feel excellent at this moment in time.

  3. That’s great news re: your test results!!! And for those of us who monitor your site closely, this continues to give hope…when needed most. Thank you Margaret. Keep well. 🙂

  4. that is great news Margaret

    i was 48 when i was diagnosed with bence jones SMM, i had the symptoms for at least another 2 years , but doctors failed to diagnose my disease.

    i am now 50 and still smoldering, my serum free light chain has been floating between 890-1301 , no organ damage, my CRAB number have been almost normal during this period.

    my main weapons are tumeric(i cook my own), olive leaf extract(from a tree i have in the back), plus off course , a restricted diet of no meat( just fish and sea food), very few carbs( only brown rice and sprouted wheat), no sugar whatsoever include fruits( i eat only blackberry, blueberry, rasberry and papaya.

    is there anyone here diagnosed with bence jones? i have never met anyone and would love to hear from them.

    keep it up, health on the way.

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