Another crowded day at BMT cliniic

More or less routine day at the BMT clinic, with the following exceptions. Light traffic today, early departure from home, arrival at clinic early for 9:00 AM appointment, only two people in waiting room ahead of me, but suddenly more come all at once and I didn't get in for vitals and blood collection until after 9:30 and then had to sit in a chair beside one of the beds in the back part of the Infusion Room. Then a wait for results of the bloodwork before having the Velcade shot. I gave Jennifer my list of prescriptions to be refilled and she came back with a new prescription for Ambien and told me there were refills available for the other 2, but when I got to the pharmacy I was told I would have to wait for the other 2 to be filled. So I got home a few minutes before 11:30.


I continue to feel good until I try to do some work outdoors that requires real effort, such as Saturday when I cut down a tree that had been almost doubled by the heavy snow that we got on May 24. Cutting down the tree and disposing of the trunk and small branches left me so weak I had to rest all the rest of the afternoon. My appetite remains good, but my intake of food is such that my weight remains stable around 170 pounds, which is 15 pounds less than what it was when I began treatment.


Emma has not recovered completely from the skin infection centered on the incisions in her leg. She takes Tetracycline prescribed for the infection by our dermatologist, Dr. Horsley, based on biopsies that he had done. This diagnosis was confirmed by the dermatology specialist, Dr. Hull, that Dr. Horsley recommended that she see. Dr. Horsley told her to take two 250mg tablets twice a day and this had cleared up the blisters by the time she saw Dr. Hull, who told her to continue the same medication, but he told her it would be better to take one 500mg tablet twice a day. I wrote about the foul up in getting the pills on May 24 and now I can report that the increased size of the pills has resulted in Emma having side effects, including nausea and general weakness, that is causing her to consider stopping the taking of the pills. We go see Dr. Curtis, surgeon, tomorrow and I have urged her not to stop until after talking to him. We see Dr. Hull next Thursday and I think she should talk to him before discontinuing the medication. We talked to our son-in-law who is an MD about her reaction to the pills and he said that 2 pills being taken at one time might lessen the side effects because the 2 pills would lodge in different places in her stomach and thus be adsorbed differently than would the one pill. She did not have side effects that inconvenienced her with the two pill at once regimen established by Dr. Horsley.