House work, low neutrophils, more radiation

Lots to report. July 11th Doug had his oncology appt. His shoulder pain is subsiding; x-rays were negative and we are now thinking it was from him turning the hand crank to raise the cargo trailer. So no action needed there. His MM blood panel shows the myeloma is still controlled - good news there. His neutrophil count is down to 1.2, so the Revlimid is on hold for two weeks. Neutrophils are an infection fighting component of the white cells. He will have a repeat CBC in two weeks to recheck the neutrophils.

Doug's left hip pain persists - he says at times with weight bearing the pain level gets to 8 or 9. (See  radiation oncology report below.) The oncologist started Doug on long-acting Oxycontin 15 mg every 12 hours with 800 mg ibuprofen for breakthrough pain. He had a bad reaction to Oxycontin last November but that was 20 mg; so far he has just slight stomach upset this time.

Upon consulting with our "super myeloma specialist" in Denver, the oncologist says Doug can start increasing the Zometa infusion intervals to three months instead of every six weeks.

On July 12th, Doug had his follow up appt. with the radiation oncologist. She was disappointed to hear that the radiation on his left sacrum did not halt the pain. Even though that turned out not to be the spot causing the pain, the sacrum did show lesions on the CT, so the treatment was not a 'wash'. We'll just think of it as preventative, as a problem would have turned up there eventually. The radiation oncologist now has come to the conclusion that we need to re-treat the original left hip field. We agree with that. She will shrink the treated area slightly to insure that the bladder, bowel and rectum are not in the radiation field. Doug has decided to postpone the radiation for a couple of weeks. We are swamped with so much going on with the selling and buying of the new and old house.

Our son Kelly and grandson Brendan (age 16) came from Denver Tues and today to help paint and hang light fixtures in the new house. They were both a huge help; Brendan is such a good kid and a good worker. Both Doug and I have been painting, etc. Doug has probably been doing too much but I can't get him to stop. We are both exhausted and so thankful for offers from friends to help. I think I will take them up on their offers. One good friend, Jim, sprayed the gravel landscape today to kill the big weeds that were threatening to take control of the yard.

I am posting a photo of Doug, Kelly and Brendan. I apologize for the poor quality of the photo. I think the light from the ceiling fan caused the blur. Didn't think to turn it off.

"No one enters into the real joy of the Lord in spite of the hard times —- but squarely through the door of the hard times."     Ann Voskamp 


Love to all.