Neuropathy much reduced

Dr. Zangari told me at the appointment February 27 that I should stop taking Thalidomide for a month to learn whether such an hiatus might have a beneficial effect on the neuropathy that I have been experiencing in my feet and fingers and which has been getting progressively worse. At that time I had not been taking the drug for one week and would have resumed taking it that evening according to the schedule given to me by Dr. Tricot and would have continued it for another 3 weeks. Dr. Zangari said that the blood tests at the end of a month would show whether the Thalidomide was having a beneficial effect on the multiple myeloma in which case it would be resumed or if not it could be suspended for even longer.

It now has been 3 weeks since I last took Thalidomide and it will be another 2 weeks until the cycle ends and blood tests will be done to determine the amount of myeloma markers my blood continues to contain. I was curious as to whether a five-week hiatus as opposed to one of four weeks would have a negative effect so posed this question to the nurses at the BMT clinic this morning. I was assured that the added week would have no significant effect so I should stop worrying about it.

The session at the clinic today lasted until after 12:00 because 3 vials of blood had been drawn and they chose to wait for a report on the bloodwork before giving me the Velcade shot. My nurse, Kristin, told me that the bloodwork looked very good with the white blood cell count up and only the kidney function somewhat questionable and she cautioned me to drink at least 2 quarts of liquid each day. A week ago no blood was drawn and I was given the Velcade as soon as it was sent up from the Pharmacy and the only wait was at the pharmacy for a prescription refill that Humana had refused to authorize the week before. Kristin said that they had given me the Velcade immediately last week because the previous week's bloodwork was definitive enough that no new bloodwork had been needed. There was no wait at the pharmacy today because I had given my list of refills to Jennifer and she had called the pharmacy and told me the prescriptions would be ready when I got there, which they were and I was home by 1:00 PM.

I went with Emma to her appointment with the dermatologist, Dr. Hull, who has been treating her bulous pemphigoid, last Thursday at which time he told her she could reduce the Sell Sept that she has been taking to one pill morning and night instead of the two she has been taking at night. He had a young nurses' aide take another blood sample for monitoring purposes and she had such a difficult time trying to get enough blood that she asked another aide to try and between the 2 of them there was barely enough for the tests. I asked Dr. Hull again if there was any better information on what might cause the disease and he said no, but research is continuing.