Collection Day

It's been a while since I mentioned my theories behind me catching myeloma. To recap, I have 4 theories. These are:

1) A year prior to being diagnosed, I had foot surgery to remove a bone spur. The spur had formed decades around a bone infection from a childhood accident. My theory is the spur removal unleashed toxins into my blood stream...leading to a blood cancer. I put the least amount of weight in this theory.
2) Aspartame. I drank a shitload of diet soda and even more Equal. I didn't like the taste of coffee, but I did like the effect. So I loaded up 3 or 4 daily cups of coffee with 7 or 8 Equals per cup. That stuff is bad for you and I lean most heavily on this theory.
3) Exposure to toxic chemicals. Diesel fuel, round up, cleaning fluids. I spent many years of my life in the vicinity of the port...exposing me to lots of chemicals. Dr Phan many years ago, mentioned to me that he sees a lot of oddball cancers from the port area. As the years go by I hear about more and more port employees who have cancer.  I'd say this is theory number 2.
4) Plain old bad luck. Shit happens.

I was reminded of my foot theory the other day. For the past few weeks, my foot has been aching. Nothing like it did before I had the surgery, but achy nonetheless. It also feels like something might be moving around in there. It's in the pad area of the right foot. I went back to the foot doctor who did the surgery this past Friday. He made me nervous when he made a face as he felt around the foot. But x rays showed that the bone is fine and I simply have a couple of new spurs developing. Nothing requiring surgery. Instead for the next couple of weeks I am on a soaking, manipulating, and icing routine, Whew whee...talk about a trip down memory lane! I have visions of taking up running again. It's doubtful it'll happen, but if I could pull off a 10k in the next year I'd be pretty darn happy. So having a non-problematic foot is key.

Meanwhile, my thumb and finger are recovering nicely from the beetle poison. New skin has formed and no warts. I return to the dermatologist this week and we'll do two more fingers. And speaking of the dermatologist, I had a heck of a rash on my ankles this week. Luckily the dermo was able to squeeze me in for an appointment and we're treating with an anti-fungal. Curses you fucked up immune system.

My myeloma is well under control though. Today I'm doing my 24 hour urine collection to see what my numbers look like. I imagine they'll be fine.

And two shout outs. One is to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Two reasons: They have an insurance co pay assistance program that I've tapped into. I hit my annual limit this month, but it's been a heck of a help. Paying for insurance ain't cheap. And the LLS has a program called First Connection, which connects newly diagnosed blood cancer patients with someone who has had the same cancer for a while. I volunteer a fair amount of time to this program, its really a great thing. My second shout out goes to Janssen, who makes Darzalex. They have a copay assistance program that saves me and other patients a couple of thousand dollars a year.  Cancer drugs are not cheap and this program is a giant help.

Meanwhile, I'm still in  a mental fog. Who am I? What am I? How did I get here? Where am I going? I'm sure we all ask these questions, but for me having a giant question mark hanging over my head makes not knowing these answers particularly frustrating. I'll get there. I better.