Tag Archives: kappa light chains

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.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, Flylady, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

Another week of beautiful weather. I’m sure glad I don’t live in ‘snow country’ back east. Having grown up in NY, I remember snowy roads, ice storms, etc. But at 18, I left for Arizona and that was that.

The sourdough olive bread came out delicious.

I am having tons of fun trying these new bread recipes. I’m slicing and freezing about half of each loaf. I may need to experiment what’s the best way to freeze. Double wrap? aluminum foil? Not sure. Any bread bakers out there with suggestions? Up for today is cran-walnut sourdough!

I plan on dropping off Goodwill this morning and then hitting up Target for a wastebasket for the laundry room. I also want to pick up a faux sprig of apple blossom for the front/side door grapevine wreaths since I’m in the entryways this week. I think the week is split with the kitchen zone on Tuesday the first.

My favorite Youtuber, Minimom, in New Zealand was trying out a new cleaning system from Clean Mama. She’s very popular and has a huge following. I copied some PDFs for cleaning weekly and thought I’d try it but after writing it down, I felt it wasn’t going to work for me. Basically, she does have daily tasks and weekly ones. But for instance, once a week it’s the bathroom, once a week vacuum, etc. She also has monthly ones. I think it’s a good system if you have a large house and or family. For me, I felt it was over-complicated. here’s the link Clean Mama. Funny, you open the page and it says “cleaning doesn’t need to be complicated.” I think she has a good method, just not for my house.

Tomorrow I have my labs so I should know by the end of the week how much of a rise my Kappa light chains go. I hope it’s just small. If it follows the previous pattern it took, the rise is slow at first and then picks up and rises more quickly. I have a pretty good sense of how my body feels so that will also be an indicator. I don’t think it will be as long as last time since I’ve come out of remission so much faster( 6 months as opposed to 4 1/2 years. ) Oh well, it is what it is.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, cooking, Flylady, Uncategorized, Walking by

We have sunny skies and crisp cold air. We had a lovely walk this morning and I noticed that sunrise is now 7:22. So it’s starting to inch back slowly. Only one person trying to jog in the park( looked like a new years resolution). But hey, we gotta start somewhere. Then after some toast and coffee, we headed down to Costco for our monthly shop. My printer has died so I needed to check there for one and they had the inexpensive one I was looking at online. So that’s ticked off. I have to have a scanner for my LLS stuff although my daughter showed me how to do it with an app. We were in and out in under an hour.

I haven’t heard from Heidi’s family but imagine that they are planning the funeral. Being very Catholic I’m sure there’s some kind of mass being done. I got off some flowers and they should arrive early this week.

This week is the bathroom zone and I plan on doing that later or maybe tomorrow. Depends on how motivated I feel.

For dinner, I have white bean soup with brown butter pasta on the side. Growing up as poor as we were, my mother would make brown butter bow tie noodles. I kind of doubt it was butter but maybe it was. I’m not sure margarine would do the same. I know when my grandmother would come up from the Bronx she always brought a pound of unsalted butter to go with the Jewish rye. Anyway, I love noodles and brown butter.

Other than that, I need to go out to the prepper pantry in the barn and put away the canned tomatoes and coconut milk I bought. I need to make a current list of what’s out there as I’ve taken out quite a few things.

The update on my kappa light chains is that it went up a point to 20.6 so now out of normal range. 1 point is not a big increase so I’m not too concerned,yet. Next month , who knows??

In happier times!

Monday Blues

Posted in Blood test, home stuff, meal planning, Multiple myeloma, Uncategorized, Walking by

It’s raining and I’m not walking and it’s 5:30 am. I haven’t bought the Frogg Toggs yet so I don’t have any rain gear. I guess I’ll get my ass in gear and do that this week as I don’t mind the rain as long as I’m covered up.

It hasn’t been a great week. I had some pain in my side last week and it turned out to be a mild case of diverticulitis. So now I’m stuck on antibiotics which wouldn’t be so bad but there’s 2 and one is one that is NO alcohol(wine for me) as it will give you a violent reaction. So not fun for me as I love my ritual of wine in the evening. Well, maybe change is good.

Then my CBC and CMP came in and they were all fine. Unfortunately, my Kappa light chains went up another 11 points to 55.7 and Lambda went down so that means the ratio went up( not good) to 5. 1.  I’m not freaking out but it’s clearly not a good sign. Treatment is out there again the question would when is my doctor going to think it should start. He still seems to think my numbers too low. They are low and I don’t want to start Velcade soon but time is ticking and I don’t want to have fractures or let my numbers get too high. Granted they are still low as when I started treatment before they were over 1000mg/L. I guess it’s just wait and wait some more.

I did do quite a bit of house tidying this morning. I decided I needed to do something or I was going to go stir crazy. So I swished and swiped the bathroom, tidied my office area, mopped the kitchen floor and washed some of the entryway windows. I plan to go out and put on the gas heater and clean the sun porch.

Well, on that depressing note I’ll close.

Midweek musings

Posted in Blood test, cancer, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, simple foods, Uncategorized by

I had a good doctor visit. As I mentioned, my numbers are going up (kappa light chains) but as he said it is slowly going up and I’m a long way to where I started out 3 1/2 years ago at 1010 mg/L kappa light chains. So I’m ok and not panicking. It went up 6 points to 31.7 so an increase. Lambda is in the normal range and looking back at my numbers, Lambda was always in the normal range. The ratio also increased to 2.66 from 2.33 so increase there too. When I went back to when I started Velcade my ratio at it’s highest was 68.25 mg/L so that says something about where I started.

All in all, I’m ok with it for now. It’s always weird to think cancer cells are in your body but one must be positive and philosophical at the same time.

We’re in for cooler temperatures which will be most welcome.

My daughter is drying some cherry tomatoes since we have so many and I really don’t want them to waste. Sundried tomatoes in the winter are nice additions to pasta.

Our last appt is Friday till next week. Driving to Sacramento has been awful with the traffic. Driving home has been a lot easier. I’m guessing with school starting and work there are more people on the freeway.

After next week, we are on a 2-week clinic schedule and that will be very nice.

 

Early morning

Posted in Bone marrow transplant, home stuff, husband, Uncategorized by

We need to be out by 6:30 so we can get his labs by 8:00 am in Sacramento and then clinic is at 8:30am with the NP. I think we will be out quicker this time.

  Speaking of labs my numbers came back with another increase:( So Kappa is at 25. Lambda went down to 11.3 but with that, the ratio went to 2.25. It’s still not alarming numbers and only slightly over high normal but it is a trend for sure. High normal for the ratio is 1.65 so .6 over. I’m sure my doctor is not worried at this point and I see him next week so we can talk.

Anyway, this is a good lesson for me to not obsess and just know treatment will resume at some point. I’m actually proud of myself for not being too nuts about it.  I guess that’s a good thing?

After clinic, I’m going to the gourmet store called Corti brothers. When we first moved to California in 1975, we would shop at the other Corti bros location. I had just started graduate school at Sac State and we practically lived in Sacramento. We were living in Foresthill(the same area we’re in today but not the same direction) and I was driving down 2-3 times a week. Back then there was little traffic on I-80 at night and during the morning.  Now any time of day I -80 is crazy. Anyway back to Corti Bros. So when I was at Kiwanis house and shopping over at Save Mart, I looked over and saw the sign for Corti Bros.  I wasn’t planning to go in till the person who owns the RV said ‘Hey, you should go into Corti Bros. ” So I did and first, the deli is amazing and I discovered they have the French ham I have always wanted to try. Of course, I thought I’d have to go to France but no, here it was. It was amazing. Since I do love cooking and food, it’s a fun store to look around in. Today, I’m getting some olives from their amazing olive bar and some special burger blend for 4th of July.

All in all, it should be a good day!

 

Friday Stuff

Posted in Blood test, cooking, Multiple myeloma, Uncategorized by

Our air quality is much better today. But Sacramento and even San Francisco are in hazardous air quality. Also, so many people still missing and I’m afraid they probably lost their lives in the fire. Very Sad. We are updating our emergency plans and have a bin with instructions ready to go. Honestly, you just don’t know if it could happen to you so better to be prepared.

My labs came back an myKappa light chains did go up 2 points 😦 to 16.1 and my Lambda down to 12.0 and the ratio went up to 1.34. All still in the normal range so I’m not going to sweat it but still there’s a tiny part of me that wants it stay lower.  But it’s ok. It’s still well below normal (kappa is 19.1 and Lambda is 26.1) so it’s all good.

Today was a gym day so I can get back to my regular schedule after being sick those 4 days. I like to go Sunday,Tuesday, Thursday.  So I will go Sunday and that puts me back on track.

I went to Safeway and got most of the rest of Thanksgiving stuff. I just need cottage cheese for the nut loaf and sour cream and probably some salad stuff next week.

Monday is my big day in court for my name change. I’m not worried about it. It’s only step one of the process to get the certified birth certificate from NY. I’ll start that paper work Thanksgiving weekend.

Tonight is a homemade pizza. I’m doing one with sausage and peppers and one with mushrooms and olives.

9a1fb140b9232e6ec8deba592897d9cb

I just love this pinecone image.

Good news and other things.

Posted in Blood test, bread, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

I finally got my lab results. Kappa light chains went up a point to 14.3, Lambda went up a point to 12.3, the ratio (important) went down to 1.16. So I am still in a great remission and I couldn’t be happier.  Another month to add to remission. YAAAAAY!!!

I also had my mammogram and it was all good.  I skipped last year and probably will skip next year too.  They used the new 3 -d imaging and it really was remarkable technology.

I had my flu shot and did have a fever reaction( not unusual). Thankfully it was at night and didn’t last too long. I usually do have a slight fever, but this was chills and then a stronger fever.  Perhaps the strain was different and my immune system reacted. It wasn’t the dose for those over 65 as the pharmacy hadn’t received those yet.

So the continuing saga of my name change. I decided to go down to the Legal Clinic in Roseville for advice on how to fill in the forms. So I read it’s only open 9-12. So off I go. I get there( after getting completely lost), and go thru security and the deputy asks if I have an appt. So I say no, I thought it was all walk-in.  Oh well, after looking around at the masses waiting with appts, I just let came home and booked the appointment for this coming week. So another trip to Roseville.  Then to file it’s almost $500 and it has to be published in a paper for 4 consecutive weeks. So it’s going to be a while.

The fall weather is definitely here and we even have a chance of rain next week. It’s also way cooler today.  WE’ll need to have some small wood for the wood stove ready as I think we will need ‘a twinkly fire’ as I call them.

Our neighbor’s house is for sale at $399,999. It’s a 3 bedroom 2 bath. It’s on the smaller side of 1400 sq feet although that is a lot bigger than ours. It’s a nice piece of property but not a lot of usable land it’s mostly a hill. But I think it will sell quickly as we are right in town within walking of the PO, store, cafe, park etc. I just hope it’s not obnoxious neighbors.  The man who lived there( and is now dead), was a real asshole. He tried sueing all the neighbors( not us) because the road is actually on his property but of course we all have easements. But there were many yelling matches with this man and the Sheriff was called in numerous times. As he got older and he did lose the lawsuit, he backed off but was still a complete jerk. In the end, the EMT’s were at his house 2-3 times a week before he finally went into care.  Well, it’s a new chapter and I guess we will see.

 

I’m making a minestrone with the very last of our tomatoes and zucchini and whatever else I can get in there. Plus I’m going to roast a chicken in the oven. I made another loaf of bread the other day and this time used 1/3 whole wheat and it was really nice. Having the bread knife so sharp I can slice real sandwich slices. Very exciting is this life of mine!!!-

Tell-me-what-is-it-you-plan-to-do-with-your-one-wild-and-precious-lifeMake Bread!! Walk!!! Cook!! Read!!! Drink Wine!! (not in that order, but maybe!!!