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Monday, October 17, 2016

Hemoglobin

I'm typically low on blood. It's a side effect of my treatment, but also a result of the myeloma. In rough terms, the myeloma crowds the bone marrow and inhibits the body's ability to make red and white blood cells. Hence anemia and lowered immune system.  I get weekly Procrit shots that help my blood making. Typically, 3 or 4 weeks in a row of Procrit gets me up to near normal. Near normal then lasts a month or so. Then we repeat. Lately though, Procrit shots aren't getting blood counts up. Perhaps the shots are preventing my levels from dropping even lower. All I know I am now consistently low on blood, meaning I'm tired, irritable and mentally not sharp. It makes focusing a real effort and thereby makes working a regular job difficult. I can't focus and I don't care.  Not a good match for being productive.


Friday is Berenson. I may push for a regimen change. I'm stable, but numbers are inching up. Of course the goal is to keep whatever is working. going for as long as possible. But I'm not sure stable is cutting it for me. I want improvement. I'd like to feel like I did about a year ago, when my numbers were superb. Phan is ready to change. We'll see what Dr B says.



1 comment:

  1. Thanks to provide the detail and find best lab equipments here like blood donor chair, BOD incubator, fume hood.

    ReplyDelete

Berenson Oncology Success Rate

 Some reading about my myeloma specialist's success rate. A press release and an article from Targeted Oncology.