Quarterly visit with Dr. Tricot

My visit to the BMT clinic was more or less routine yesterday. After my vitals were taken I was ushered into the Infusion room and seated to await the Velcade infusion. A wait that I did not expect to be very long, but after sometime Kirstin, a short rather cute nurse, told me that they were waiting for my labs to be reported before giving me the infusion. I told her that no blood had been drawn that morning because so much had been drawn last Friday, so she looked at that lab report and then brought the Velcade to be administered after which I was told that I could leave, but I had a list of 4 prescriptions to be refilled and Jennifer was too busy with a patient to be disturbed. Bernadette told me to leave the list with her and she would give it to Jennifer and the refills would be ready when I came back the next day. And it wasn't until I looked last night at my list of medicines to be taken each day that I realized that the chemo drug that I take on the 1st and 15th days of each cycle was on the list that I left with Bernadette.

Emma accompanied me today for the appointment with Dr. Tricot, which was for 10:00, and for which we arrived almost 30 minutes early as requested. We were ushered into the examination room where my vitals were taken, no weight or height though, and a few minutes later Dr. Tricot walked in, although he soon left looking for other papers. He usually begins by asking me about the medication I am taking and whether I have taken it as prescribed; today I told him about missing the cyclophosphamide last night, but that I will take it as soon as we get home, which satisfied him and which I did. Today, however, he began by asking about Emma's cut lip and bruise on her cheek, which she had partially obscured with a little makeup, and we told him about the hassle at St. Mark's ER last Tuesday. Dr. Tricot went through his usual examination before starting his dictation which concludes with him saying that he wants to see me after 3 more cycles. I remarked that the myeloma markers that he watches have not changed much for several months and he said that he doesn't worry about their level, which is rather low, just that they stay consistently about the same. I reminded him that when we saw him in June he had said that in December he would take me off chemo for month, but today he said he will take me off for 3 months to see how I do. If the myeloma markers go back up during that time I will have to go back on chemo. Emma asked him how old of a patient had he treated and he told us that while in Arkansas he had a patient 88 years old and that patient is still doing well after 4 years. He didn't say whether the patient had been given dual transplants or only a single one as I have had.