WHEW>>>> I'm Back!

Well howdy howdy howdy! I've got good news and OK news ..... Sorry I have been gone so long, but I honestly did NOTHING for almost a week. Actually, couldn't do ANYTHING for almost a week. Once upon a time....in a far-away land (fever world), I started to run a temp of 103 and it fluctuated between that and 99. for a week no matter how much ibuprofen I took. Long story short, it turns out I had a massive Urinary Tract Infection...the 2nd one in a month (but the first one was nothing like this one)...and it truly kicked my ass. I was so weak from both the fevers and the infection that I had to rest walking from my bedroom to the kitchen! Everything was a struggle. I cannot believe that a UTI could knock you so down and out. Also being on my 1st week of chemo lowered my resistance too so they must have gotten together to create the "perfect storm" in my body. On friday, Mom drove me to see Dr. Nair and he did the blood and urine tests and then sent me to the infusion room to hang a bag of IV antibiotics to jump start this thing and get the show on the road. I thought it would start working pretty quickly being IV but I didn't feel near human until a few days ago....Tues....and that was only operating at about 70% at best. Walking to get the paper in the morning was a BIG DEAL. I really am in awe of how awful a UTI can make you feel. At my friday visit, Dr. Nair told me to hold off on the chemo and not take it until I saw him today. So today, my regular monthly visit, he re-tested the urine and I STILL have a UTI so he switched my antibiotic but I do re-start my chemo tonite. The urine has improved from what it was, but there is still bacteria in there. What stubborn little f*cks they must be! Bloodwork a little low in a few areas, but that's due to the infection, so I go back for bloodwork in 2 weeks and in the meantime I start on a sulfa based antibiotic tonite and hope it knocks it right out this time.
I have what I think is GREAT NEWS regarding my Multiple Myeloma though! On my visit to the oncologist that March 3 when he gave me the news of the return of my MM, it kinda threw me for a loop that day because I had been coming back with ZERO MM cells ever since my transplant. Some of that visit is a blur after telling me it was back and I remember him saying that he had received my bloodwork back and that he was sorry to tell me that we were "going down the relapse road", so he was going to start me back on my prior chemo regime to get a handle on it. Usually I ask alot of questions, but that day I was just so blown away I couldn't form a question! So in between that day and the day I went back for my UTI IV meds, I had time to formulate questions to ask him and one of my questions was to explain what the numbers REALLY mean. There is a normal range, just like any bloodwork has, so I wanted an explanation of what my numbers meant and what it really means as far as what was goin on inside my body. He explained that to be in a full blown relapse, the numbers must be 25% OVER the highest end of the normal range. I am only 5% OVER the normal range, so he does not consider me in a full blown relapse right now. My numbers mean that, yes, the MM has returned HOWEVER we caught it so early and the numbers are so low, that he is NOT worried about me and thinks that this round of chemo just might do the trick. So the plan is to stay on this about 9 mos to a year, and then a bone marrow biopsy to see where we really are and if there has been any damage. So needless to say I am thrilled with this news of my numbers being so low and not considered unmanageable! YAY! Not too thrilled about going back on the chemo, but hey, if that's all I have to do, I'll manage all the little crappy side effects. I'm just hoping the fatigue doesn't hit me as hard as last time, but then again, if it does, I can manage that too and I have to stay on top of the weight thing, so next grocery shopping list will include lots of ice cream, whipped cream and fudge sauce and any other fattening thing I can think of! That's it for now.....good to be back :)