J. Michael Jones

I wanted to make sure that I am clear about my kidneys. No, they are not suddenly better. Simply,  my nephrologist wanted to challenge them to see if they can function without dialysis. While I respect him very much, I was perplexed as my labs have not been that good. The main point is that my toxins, creatinine and BUN rise on my non-dialysis days. I have now missed one day of dialysis in our little trial. I will get labs on Monday and Tuesday. If my toxins are stable, then, I can get off dialysis in about two weeks. About a week after that, I will get these catheters out of my chest. I will dance if that happens.

So, I have guarded optimism. But you can pray that these coming tests are good.

I’ve continued chemo, starting my third round this past Monday. I did okay Monday and even returned to work on Wednesday morning. But then things started to go south.

I think it was the combination of things including getting three vaccines at the dialysis center on Tuesday, doing my second chemotherapy treatment on Thursday and getting a new 5-hour infusion of a bone hardening drug (MM often involves the bones causing fractures). By last night, I felt horrible worst than any flu I’ve ever experienced. The symptoms have continued today but are slowing improving. If I had to live with these symptoms, I would have no quality of life. I hope that I can return to work this coming week for two half days. But it is discouraging to have such bad days. I want to have a disease where you get treatments that  make you feel better and better, not where the treatments make you feel worse and worse.