New local oncologist, Rapid rate dara infusion

We got to meet the new HRRMC oncologist, Dr. Kathryn Arrambide. We like her very much. She's probably in her 50's, bright, knowledgable about myeloma;  she seems compassionate and has a sense of humor. Best of all, she is very willing to work with Dr. M, our Denver specialist. The two docs now have each other's cell phone numbers. She spent almost an hour with us. We have confidence in her.

Doug had a myeloma panel (blood test which tracks the cancer markers) done October 9. The Lambda light chains are up to 6.60 mg/dL and the Kappa/Lambda ratio is .1412 which is low. Not good.
 Dr. A talked with Dr. M and they agreed that Doug should be put back on daratumumab infusions every two weeks instead of monthly. We hope this will keep the myeloma in check. Or at least not growing so fast.
Doug has been out of remission for too long.
He weighed 152 today. He still has a hard time keeping his weight up.

Doug is now on Pomalyst instead of Revlimid. The Pom is being rough on Doug's blood counts but they are good enough to qualify for today's infusion.
ANC was 1.2, platlets 115, hemoglobin 11.2.
His immunoglobulins are very low also. So Doug has to be very careful to avoid large groups of people where he could catch an infection.
During the flu season the only place he will go is to church, where he sits on the end seat.

One thing was different about today's infusion - Dr M said Doug could have the new dara protocol of rapid rate infusion, since he has not had any trouble with dara. Rapid rate is the same dose but it is given in 90 minutes instead of 3 hours. Less time in the chair! His nurse monitored him to make sure he was doing ok. It went well.

Doug is not happy about going back to every two weeks but at least it will go more quickly.

Doug's mother died last week in Nebraska. She was 106 years old and her quality of life has not been very good the last few months. She has told us repeatedly that she is ready to go to heaven. She will be missed but we believe she is in a much better place and at peace, with Jesus. No more dementia.

Peace and love to all.

Today's quote:
  "There is always, always, always something to be thankful for."
Ann Voskamp.