Increased Myeloma marker count

Today's visit to the BMT clinic was not as short or as sweet as Monday's visit. It would have been as short except I asked Jennifer about my prescription for cyclophosphamide, which has to be filled at the beginning of every new maintenance cycle, and she didn't get back to me until 9:30. The visit wasn't sweet because the printout of Monday's lab work showed that the Myeloma marker that Dr. Tricot follows (Kappa free light chains) had gone up to 27.9 mcg/dL, whereas it had been at 9.6 mcg/dL from the bloodwork on March 17 and he was quite pleased with my progress. I had not expected to see the Myeloma markers reported because I had been told that they would only be determined on day 1 of each maintenance cycle, but I guess the 7 vials of blood that were drawn Monday instead of the 5 they normally draw on day 15 was a clue that I missed. The last time a spike in the marker appeared Dr. Tricot changed my maintenance cycle and had me come in for a complete round of tests followed by a change in my medications and a new maintenance cycle. That time, however, I had been warned in advance by one of the PAs and a nurse that I might need another transplant and I couldn't have flu shots until these questions had been resolved. Dr. Tricot would have had the latest bloodwork by yesterday (it takes 3 days to get the Myeloma markers reported) and nothing was said about another round of tests so I guess we can depart tomorrow, as planned, for a trip to use our time share week.


Emma's leg continues to be troublesome. Blisters continue to appear in the area of the large incision and Dr. Horsley (the dermatologist) has decided she needs to see a specialist as a result of the biopsies that he took on April 1. The University of Utah has a dermatology clinic just across the street from Dr. Horsley's office and he urged Emma to make an appointment with a Dr. Hull at that clinic with a phone call to her on April 2 after he had recieved the report from the pathology lab. That report said that the diagnosis was: "Eosinophil Rich Superficial Perivascular Dermatitis" and went on to say that "the findings could be bullous pemphigoid." The report also said that a more specific diagnosis would have to be done on fresh tissue, which they could not do.



Emma had appointments with both Dr. Horsley and Dr. Curtis for yesterday and we kept both of those appointments. Dr. Horsley gave her a prescription for a medication that is somtimes prescribed to treat bullous pemphigoid and one for a stronger topical salve to dress the blistering area and invited us to call him while on our trip if any changes occur that appear worrisome. Dr. Curtis had x-rays taken and these showed that the fractures are completely healed, but he also is perplexed by the continued blistering and approved of the proposed visit to Dr. Hull, which won't be until April 26 because of his schedule only allowing appointments on Monday or Thursday mornings and nothing available until April 19. I have appointments at the BMT clinic on both April 19 and April 22 both of which will take most of the morning so Emma's appointment had to be on the 26th.