A surprising visit to Dr. M

I had what I had hoped was a routine six-month follow-up visit with Dr. M, my oncologist. We have noticed that my numbers, M-spike, IgM, etc. were creeping up. So far, Dr. M has said that there was no need for any action, that we'd take action when the numbers became significantly higher.

Here is a quote from one of my prior blog posts:

Dr. M reports that the M-spike has risen to 0.7 which he classifies as insignificant. However, the IgM number is now about 1200. The expected normal reading is 37-286. An elevated IgM suggests that the immune system is busy fighting an invasion.

At my visit yesterday, the M-spike was reported at 1.1; The IgM was an eye-popping 2,077. Dr. M said that the numbers may still be reasonable; that is, we might still require no immediate action. He said, however, that the only way to know for certain if immediate treatment is needed or if we may safely wait is to do a bone-marrow biopsy.

Ouch!

We then scheduled the procedure for mid-March. I consider this less than the perfect gift for my upcoming birthday!

I will report back the results as soon as I know them.

Dr. M also reported that there have been two new drugs introduced in the past 2-3 years for my particular and rare type of lymphoma. One, at least, is a pill taken once per day.

Even if there are side effects to the pill, it is still preferable to driving to the infusion room for 5-6 hour treatments three times a week for a zillion weeks.

Aside from this startling news, I feel really good. We are looking forward to travel in April and again in September.