In my last post, I said I was going to get an IV injection of Dextran iron at the Farber on Sept. 30. I'm sorry but I lied. I didn't do it. After making the appointment, I started thinking, "What am I doing?". This visit to the Farber would be the first time in over two years that I wouldn't need an IV, since I wasn't getting the Zometa this month. Yay! So why would I sign up for getting an IV that day? Furthermore, I wasn't scheduled to come in until 10:30, so I wouldn't have been able to start my Dextran until 12:30, a 5-6 hour procedure. Duh! I must have had a real brain fart when I signed up for that. So I decided to cancel that and reschedule.
As for my visit, all is good with my MM! The pathology results from last month showed that both my blood (SPEP) and urine (UPEP) test results showed no M-spike and no monoclonal protein. So I'm still good. However, my red blood cell counts weren't so stellar. My RBC dropped from 4.6 to 4.2, still in the normal range. However, my HCT dropped from 39.4 to 37.7, below the normal range. Also, my Hgb dropped from 12.9 to 12.6, also below the normal range. The upshot of all of this is despite all the iron pills I've been wrestling with over the last 9 months, I'm still slightly anemic. Jeesh! What is it with this?
I have to wonder if I am losing blood somehow. As far as I can recall, I haven't had any traumatic accidents involving significant blood loss. I still have all my limbs. Could it be from my colon? I had a colonoscopy in April 2013 which was clear, showing no polyps. So I should be good there, right? Hmmm. I have scheduled an annual (or is it a bi- or tri-annual) physical in a couple of weeks. I think I will bring subject this up with my PCP. Maybe this planned infusion of Dextran will solve the problem, but if I am slowly losing blood by some mechanism, that might only be a temporary solution. We'll see.
I've been kind of busy the last couple of weeks. Last weekend, Jeff and I went to the farm in New York. We had a great time cooking out, playing some golf, riding the ATV, and socializing with the neighbors. Then on Monday, Jeff and I went on a charter deep-sea fishing trip out of Gloucester, MA, organized by my good friend Paul Pakos. That was fun. I'm the only one on the boat who actually caught a rock! I also caught a pile of seaweed and a stick. I did catch one small pollock though. Between us, we caught enough pollock and red fish for us all to have a couple of meals from the catch. Yum! This Sunday, I plan to go sailing on Buzzard's Bay with another good friend, Lew, for 2 or 3 days. We may go to Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard. I have to say that being retired doesn't suck.
The house-hunting is still going slowly. We've seen a couple of potential properties come on the market, but nothing has floated our boat yet. Tomorrow, we will visit one of the houses where we left a flyer who might be interested in selling, but we're not getting our hopes up. We'll see.
Fall is upon us. The trees are turning color and the leaves are starting to fall. There's a chill in the air now. Brrr! Now is the time to fertilize the lawn for the last time and get the boat out of the water for the winter. It's sad to see this wonderful summer come to an end. Sigh.
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