Beth’s Blog

A friend is trying to raise some money to benefit the MSF. I hope you’ll consider sponsoring him! Here’s his info:
Since the beginning of April, I have been training to ride the MS150, which is a 150 mile bike ride in New Bern, NC on September 10th and 11th. Training has consisted of [...]

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Since I stopped taking dex about 6 weeks ago, I’ve noticed an increase in aches and pains, including the neuropathy. My RLS is also worse, and my allergies are unbearable at times! I mentioned this to the lead doctor on the study team, and he thinks it’s steroid withdrawal. It’s a miserable [...]

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I had a bit of anemia last week but, according to the doctor, my counts have rebounded. I’m glad about that. In the entire time I’ve been dealing with this cancer, I’ve managed to keep normal CBCs. In fact, my doc says they’re better than his.
One thing though… My white count tended [...]

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A friend died today. She had been fighting ovarian cancer for about 5 years, I think. She had been through every kind of treatment you can imagine, from chemo to surgery and radiation. Last week I sent her email, apologizing for my not having called her. I told her I was [...]

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I started my treatment with CNTO 328 yesterday. It’s a monoclonal antibody against interleuken-6 (IL-6), which is a major growth factor for MM. The idea is to starve the cells so they die off. Since I’m in a trial, I have tons of tests done. My first infusion was yesterday, and [...]

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I had a bone marrow biopsy at UNC yesterday, and it was so much better than the first one I had! I was terrified, because my first one was such a terrible experience. It felt like brutal attack compared to the one I had yesterday. I’m glad to know they don’t [...]

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Yesterday I signed the consent forms to be enrolled in a trial of a monoclonal antibody to IL-6, CNTO 328, made by Centocor. Since IL-6 is a growth factor for MM, the idea behind the antibody is that the MM cells will eventually die off. I’ll have to read up some more on [...]

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