Tag Archives: kappa light chains

Five on Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, Myeloma, travel, Uncategorized by

We had the most wonderful thunderstorm and rain last night with lightning. We got a lot of rain, and the ground is pretty soaked for now. Yeah, for the rain. Although not so good, it started a lightning fire across the canyon, but I think I saw it was contained.

A low spend week for the most part. My daughter went to Costco after work for a few things, namely dishwasher pods that we needed. Plus water and just a few other things. Food came to @ $47, and then the wine I want to take to the coast was $18. It’s called Sonoma-Cutrer. I haven’t had it before, but it’s supposed to be good.

All the July bills are done, so I have August’s budget almost done. With SS decreasing, I have made a few adjustments. I think mostly it’ll be decreasing food costs and miscellaneous expenses. Most of our bills are fixed, so I can’t do anything there.

Let see, the good news is LLS opened funding for Myeloma, so I hopped on the website and was approved. I just need the doctor to fill out his form. Having that money will be a great help in paying for my insurance.

Other good news is, my kappa light chains stayed about the same, 19.8. So up from 19.6, but that’s really marginal. So good news on that front.

I had fairly good energy this week after the low with Dex. I got the living room ceiling painted. It took 2 days working for about 30 minutes each time. I also went to the paint store and bought another gallon of Simply White. Except for the bathroom, our whole house is painted that color. It makes it easy to do touch-ups and keeps the look clean and minimal.

Well, I’m off to do some tidying and put some stuff away.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, frugalism by

Since I’m not driving a lot, gas is being saved. I filled up at Costco, which is a real savings. Also, I’m using the Costco Visa card and have earned $32 so far. That includes gas and in-store shopping. That’s a big savings.

The only shop I did to last week was WinCo. I spent $150 on food. Overall, I’m good with that. This next week, I plan to go to Costco as B needs some socks, and I saw that Costco has Sketchers that you just slip on. His balance is very precarious right now, so I want him to wear some on his feet other than Birki’s.

My daughter and had brunch out, and that was $60 plus a tip. We rarely eat out, so for her birthday, it was a treat. This was from a cash envelope.

Today, I plan on getting gas in the VW and stopping at Safeway for one of their cake slices. We didn’t do any birthday cake or pie, so I thought it would be nice to get a piece. Safeway has the best cake slices.

Other than that, not much else. I have my budget for June done, and money is very tight, but I think we’ll be ok. The biggest new expense will be the increase in our UHC insurance, and the grant B has been used up. We’ll just have to adjust as best we can.

Oh, hurray, my Kappa light chains came back good. Not great as in under the high normal, but came in at 20.8, so above high normal, but Dr. L said labs look great, so I will believe him at his word. I’ll see him next week.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, cooking, Gratitude, Walking by

I am thankful for a beautiful day. The early morning walks have been so pretty. The predawn sky is like a Maxfield Parrish poster.

I’m thankful that I had a good Dr. visit and there’s nothing new with my labs. My kappa light chains went down a whole point. So that’s great. When that happens though my ratio goes up so that is higher than normal right now. But I’m not too concerned about that at this point. The ratio between kappa and lambda is important especially when the Kappa goes high.

I’m thankful the budget looks good for September but it will be another close month with money. There won’t be much if any leftover. Plus we will need to book a room in Palo Alto by Stanford to spend the night. I guess we’ll figure it out.

I’m grateful we have the 2 appts for B set up although we are concerned about the Stanford one. The treatment( Hipec) is a tough surgery etc and it may be that he’s too old to qualify. So now, I’m worried about that too.

I’m thankful I repotted my plants yesterday. They were very root bound so I think they will do better, especially the Ficus. I plan on going around and seeing how many more I need to do. I think probably 3 more.

Tonight I plan on making a frittata for dinner. I have a lot of spinach to use up and a Boursin. The Boursin adds a nice creamy texture to the frittata.

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, frugalism, home stuff, Myeloma by

It was a good week overall. We did the extra Costco trip for the tent for camping and the rest of the stuff on sale. Vitamins were on the list, laundry soap, Kerrygold butter, and misc. I think food came out to $200 and nonfood to $100. So not too bad really. I wanted to go to Trader Joe’s but it just didn’t work out time-wise. Probably next week or the week after I’ll add in a TJ’s trip.

My new Levi’s showed up and I like the lighter blue color. My oldest pair are now pretty ripped in the knee area but I’ll still keep them and maybe turn them into shorts.

We’ve been buying the stuff for the bathroom remodel but that’s separate from other bills. We plan on white subway tiles with a grey grout and the floor a waterproof vinyl. I wanted the small black and white octagons for the floor but after looking at them I decided that wasn’t quite what I wanted. We found some nice looking vinyl that looks like slate. Sunday we plan on going to Ikea for the bathroom vanity and medicine cabinet. It’ll all take some time but we’ll get there.

Tonight is a homemade pizza so not takeout. I’m trying to think if we had anything out and I don’t think so. Usually after swimming it’s too early to get something for lunch. Our favorite Mexican place doesn’t open till 11 am so I’m usually home way before that.

Next week is my colonoscopy so we might do lunch out earlier in the week. I’ll be glad when this is over.

I’m hoping to swim at least once next week before the procedure and also go to the gym once. We’ll see how it all goes.

My kappa light chains went up just a tiny bit(19.5) so a smidgen above high normal(19.4), so nothing to worry about. My next infusion isn’t until the end of May and I see my doctor before that so I can discuss lowering the dex again.

Friday Things

Posted in cancer, cash envelopes, frugalism, Myeloma, swimming by

I plan to go down and swim today. I’m going to go about 45 minutes before the pool closes and try to do 15 minutes or so. I was going to go to the gym but decided that working out in the pool swimming would give me a ‘whole’ body workout.

Out internet is down. The modem stopped working yesterday( I think ATT was working on the lines and screwed it up). So this is courtesy of my hot spot. What a PITA and they won’t be here till Monday:(

I’m trying to work through being depressed about my Kappa numbers. It’s difficult to handle and even though I know ‘this too will pass’, it’s a bummer. There’s not much I can do until the next cycle and labs because we don’t know what they will do. But I will ask Dr.L to go every 2 weeks and see what that does. Still very disappointing.

Frugal wise, not much new. I need some new clothes but am holding off till I have more in my cash envelope. Probably in March, I’ll get what I need which is a new Polar fleece, 1 pair of Levi’s ( that’s pretty much all I wear besides my workout leggings), a new pair of Hokas, and a couple of T-shirts.

I went down to the Holiday and spent 60 on food. Mostly this was odd stuff like Bubbies pickles, rice noodles, greek yogurt, and a sourdough loaf from Truckee Sourdough. There must have been a few more things but I can’t remember now.

B got gas at Costco so that saved some money. We’ve been doing this regularly and it’s at least .50 a gallon cheaper there than Auburn.

Most all the money bills are done except water which is later in the month. So no extra spending overall. I used a gift card to get a coffee at Starbucks but that’s about it.

Here are the 2 books I got at the FOL Roseville.

This added up to $5 and I used personal spending money. The Linda McCarthy book was interesting to look through.

Well, I’m off to get ready for the day plus figure out what we’re doing for dinner.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, California, camping, Gratitude, library, Myeloma, travel, Uncategorized by

We had a terrific drive home. Traffic was minimal in our direction, terrible going toward Napa. So I’m thankful for that. We (meaning Barclay) had us hooked up, tanks emptied by 9:45 am. Boy, do I love full hookups!!. But plenty of places we love don’t have them so, it’s do what you can.

I’m thankful I wasn’t in any hurry yesterday as the infusion nurse was working 5 chairs alone and it took an hour to finally get my shot. Then I got stuck in traffic on 65 as there was construction on I-80 where it merges with 65. One hour later, I was headed home. So a normal hour and a half trip ended up almost 3.

I am thankful for the Roseville Library and the books I picked up yesterday too!!

So the most exciting news and what I am most thankful for is Velcade is WORKING!! My kappa light chains went down 100 POINTS !!!! Yay!!!! I see Dr.Laptalo today. B is driving me as it is a dex day and I never drive on dex. I could do it for sure but my judgements are just off on Dex. Hence, the no knives rule too.

Feel free to share what you’re thankful for and if you are traveling in blog land, the Frugal Girl’s blog on Thankful Thursday is always inspiring.

Wednesday stuff

Posted in Blood test, bread, cooking, decluttering, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

The pool was busy again even though there was a sign about Spring Break. I still had a nice swim. It will be a challenge to go over to the outdoor pool but I’ll just have to wait and see how that goes in June.

I’ve been going through some decluttering again and have posted my tortilla press and some houseplants on our Pay it Forward group. I used the tortilla press maybe half a dozen times but it’s not really my thing. The houseplants are not thriving where I had them( the sunroom) and I’m not into just having plants stuck around anywhere. So I thought I offer the 3 to someone who can make use of them.

I’m feeling the urge to go to a new level of decluttering things that aren’t absolutely necessary. It’s, to me, just levels and layers of decluttering and simplifying. What was important even a few years ago, just isn’t anymore. I want the simplicity of useful items and that aren’t just single purpose appliances. I haven’t put on the bread maker yet but it is on my to do list. Also, I really want to pare down to the ‘poetry’ and only have what is essential. That may include getting rid of any duplicates or things that are just lying around. I don’t have a lot of that but there is always something.

A fresh loaf of sourdough.

Some honey in a new honey Ball jar. So cute!!

Here’s the flowering cherry tree. You can’t really see where the top broke off but it’s in the middle area.

Well, tomorrow is my doctor appt. Not much to really talk about except once again when we might start treatment. As I’ve said my limit is when my kappa light chains get to 100. Right now they are at 46.1 mg/L so that was another 6 point jump. Normal high is 19.4, so it is increasing. 😦 I’m not sure what his assessment is but I’m not waiting till they are over 600 like last time. As long as the increases are small it’s ok, if they start doubling then it’s time. It does suck but what can you do?

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, California, cooking, ikea, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

I was going to go down to the Rec center( aka as the gym) today but decided not to being it is Black Friday and HWY65 where I turn on to is right on the way to The Galleria shopping mall and big stores like Walmart. I will go swimming tomorrow. It’ll be early enough that I should miss the shoppers although I might get some traffic heading up to the Sierras on the way home.

We don’t go out to shop on Black Friday but I did find a 25% off deal on Bombas and bought a couple of T-shirts for B and a pair of socks for me. Then Amazon had a good B F deal on a comforter and we need a new one so I got that. It was $20. I think that was 50% off.

I put away the pumpkin and fall things from the table and will decorate with a few Christmas-themed things later. I have some red candles and a few other things to put out. I won’t do a lot yet as it’s a bit early for me.

We all had a good Thanksgiving with lots of good food. I don’t know why eating dinner at 2 pm sets me off but it does and then I don’t feel like eating at all later. I did have some homemade pumpkin pie around 7:30 though.

I’ve been somewhat depressed at my kappa light chains going up 4 points. Even though Dr. Laptalo said, it’s just a small increase, don’t worry, I do worry that now things will start doubling. I mean I know intellectually that my cancer will come back and I’ll need treatment again but maybe it’s just so tiring to think about it all. Anyway, in a few days, I’ll feel better once I process it. There’s nothing I can do about it so…

I’m going to look up a pressure canning recipe for turkey broth or soup and see what it looks like. I may do that tomorrow. I think I’ll make the broth today. and then if I want to do some pressure canning it’ll be ready to do. I might put up our small Ikea Christmas tree this weekend too.

Back to our routines.

Posted in Blood test, California, Flylady, home stuff, Uncategorized by

Since Sunday we’ve been slowly getting back to our daily routines. B has been outside nonstop with cleaning out Rubi( the RV) and cleaning it (which it doesn’t need much). He’s getting the pool ready to fill which is always a process and he’s doing endless outdoor chores.

I’ve been catching up with my Flylady routines and seems like today I’m mostly done with everything. I might do a kitchen deep clean later this week.

I like routines and I do better with daily lists and that sort of thing. I always prioritize what is most important to do and get that done first. Today, I have on my list to get out the dehydrator and start drying herbs that are in the garden like oregano, lemon thyme, regular thyme, and tarragon. I think there is some parsley too that can be harvested. We are going to have a bumper crop of garlic and that’s exciting. I guess planting in containers works best for some things and then the earwigs and other things don’t eat the seedlings so they have a chance to grow. The garlic is in 4 barrels so that’ll be a big harvest. I planted the onions around them so once the garlic is done I’m hoping the onions take off. In the 2 big galvanized tubs( they are 2×6), we have tomatoes, peppers, dill, parsley, fennel and I’m not sure what else.

The asparagus we planted last year don’t seem to be doing very well. Only 10 have come up and we planted at least 24. Maybe the soil conditions aren’t quite right. B has already harvested some radishes that he’s growing in an old clawfoot tub that he’s converted to a planter.

I haven’t done any decluttering as of late because where the house is now, seems good. I’m still debating getting rid of some canning jars but since canning season is just starting I think I’ll wait and see what I actually use. I plan on canning salsa, pickles, tomato sauce, and, a few other things. No jams this year as we don’t eat a lot of jam and I still have some marmalade and pepper jelly to use.

Tomorrow I go down to Sacramento to see Dr. L. My numbers came back just slightly over high normal at 19.9mg/L high is 19.4mg/L. last month I was at 18.3/L so a fairly big jump. 1.6, but I’m not too worried yet.

Post #1500.

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, swimming, Uncategorized by

It’s Saturday. This post is my 1500 one. I started my blog in 2012 so it’s almost 10 years old. (lo in April). I blog mostly as a journal and it’s fun for me to go back and read what was happening. Also with Myeloma, I like to keep track of what treatments I’ve had and when. It does put things in perspective.

Today is a swim day. I get to the pool @ 7:10 and swim till almost 8am. Saturdays are a mixed bag. Sometimes it’s busy and other times I get a lane to myself. It’s definitely worth my drive of 25 minutes to get there. As I’ve said there’s no pool in Auburn like this.

After that, I plan to hit up Winco for a FEW things. Their wines are the best prices around. So I’ll pick up something. My favorite right now is a French Rose. Not anything expensive, more like under $10. We are holding off on Costco till the week after next. I think we have enough coffee till then which is always the deciding factor.

The most exciting news this morning is my labs came in and there was NOT an increase in my Kappa light chains and it even went down a smidge.

Another month of things looking pretty good. Last month the kappa was 20.6mg/L so, hey, I’ll take it.