NEW JOB !!

This is an answer to prayer for a long time.  The job I have now wasn't a good fit and because of that very stressful.  However; it was there when I needed it and an answer to prayer when I got it.

I'm sure less stress will help me keep the myeloma in check.

Now I'm going to be doing something that really fits me.  Not commission sales !!

My new job is working with school districts helping them manage their state mandated programs.

I start on March 5th.  looking forward to a more normal work life that has less stress and that fits my personality. 

 The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...

Our Caribbean Cruise

We just got back from our 5 day Caribbean Cruise.  It was a great time.  We went with my sister and brother in law.  Weather was great and the seas were fantastic. Here are some pictures...

My Sister and Brother in Law, Leslie and Fred Braun.

 

Our Ship, Liberty of the Seas, Royal Caribbean

Me in the kayak in Belize...

My wife, Jenni gave it a try, but didn't make it very long... The wind and waves were just to scary.

The pink Dune Buggy was ours in Cozumel Mexico.

The Light house in Cozumel, I was crazy enough to "run" up the 145 steps to the top.  It was fun but the steps get shorter and the roof gets lower so right at the top I bonked my head and walked the last 3 steps.

We even made a friend in Cozumel.

So a good time was had until .....   The last evening at sea Fred got really sick.. Then on the way home I only made it to Phoenix before I got it and had to spend the night before being well enough to fly home.  A BIG thank you to Southwest airline ground staff for helping Jenni and I get our baggage, change flights, get a hotel and generally make sure we were taken care of because of the issue.  They went way and above what we could have expected.

Bottom line is we had a great vacation and even with a bad ending we have a lot of good memories.

The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...

Me and my family

I follow a Myeloma Friends blog, Walking with the BIG EZ, with LOTS of pictures of him and his family.  It is a highlight of my week when they post new pictures.  I'm not that good at doing it on a blog.  In fact, Jenni my wife, set up the blog page you see.  She is MUCH better than I am at this stuff.  So here goes...

This is me and a friend Gary.   I'm on the red bike....

This is me and my Bicycle... Getting a clue??? I like anything on 2 wheels..

 This is me (the blue bike) finishing the 70+ miles around Lake Tahoe last September 11th.

Jenni and I at Crater Lake in Oregon last summer.

A picture of Jenni and I with "4 of 5" of our grand children.

My 3 Grand Daughters... Rylee, Allyson, and Emily

Here is my youngest Grand Son, Nate ... Yes; my wife made the cake..

My daughter Jamie and her husband mike.

My Son, Josh

Joshua's Son and my Grandson, Devon..

So that's it... My family... Thanks for browsing the pictures...

The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...

My birthday today...

Another year has come and gone..  Got the text from my son this morning wishing the "old man" a happy 54th birthday.  This year has been a good one and I'm looking forward to my next year being 54.  A lot of crazy things happened last year. So I thought I would take a moment and remember how blessed I am to be here still and the blessings of family, friends and the new friends I have in the Blogispher & Facebook.

The year started out kinda rough.  My PN hit me hard.  I was unable to exercise because I kept falling and I started falling just getting out of my car.  I started walking funny , like I was 90 !!  Really scary but I soon found out it was just a reaction to my medication.  I went off it and BAM I was mostly back to normal.

The spring was wet so I got behind on my training and I missed 2 rides that I had signed up for.  I kept going at the gym and as soon as the weather cleared I was back out riding my bike and loving life.  I had a great year riding, 3489 miles on the bike and 50+ hours in the gym.    It all came down to me doing the Tour De Tahoe.  It was a great day to ride it and I had a great time.  I finished it much faster than I expected !! 

I had a second round of cancer testing late October early November and everything came out great.  My numbers have stayed fairly stable and so I'm not moving any closer to needing treatment yet!  Having Smoldering Multiple Myeloma is a crazy place to be.  Yes, you have cancer, and no they don't do anything for it!  That is where the diet and exercise comes in.  No real research on the "true" benefit of it but I know this... My first 9 months with it, my cancer numbers were climbing every time they were checked.  After the weight loss and exercise kicked in, the numbers started to fall and now have leveled off.  I feel better than I have in years and that is enough for me right now!

The year has ended up with Shingles.. NO FUN AT ALL.. but I got to get to know a blog friend better because of them, so I guess there are blessings in everything God puts in front of us!!!  The Big EZ helped me figure out what I had and then walked me through the tough time... Thanks Big...  Now I have a cold but the body is doing a good job handling it.

Not the best ending of the year but I got to spend a lot of time with family and the celebration of my Lord's birth is always a great time at the Ritter household.

So...  Here is how I sum up 53 years old.  Full of ups and downs but as long as I stayed out of treatment it was a great year... 

Now on to a treatment free 54....

The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...

Shingles !!!

All was well and I was doing great. The minor problems that I have really don't hurt so I'm good with them. In fact, my Dr. and Oncologist always knew my response when asked how I was doing. It was always "Great, and what I do have doesn't hurt so I'm good". Well I really can't say that now.

It all started this last Tuesday at the gym. I use a heart rate monitor with a chest strap sending unit. I noticed that the skin under my strap really itched and hurt. My thought at the time was I needed a good cleaning of the strap. The next morning I got up and my skin continued to hurt. Wednesday afternoon my skin hurt more and I noticed a rash starting. I was still thinking that it was because of the dirty HRM strap. About an hour before bed on Wednesday I started having right lung pain. I took some Ibuprofen but it didn't even touch the pain. To get some sleep I took some codeine. I also noticed my rash was growing and starting to really bother me more. Thursday morning I got up and noticed my rash was growing all along my chest back to my spine in a mostly straight line. The codeine seemed to keep the lung pain under control and I didn't have a fever or a cough so I was just going to Marine up and wait until my Dr. visit the next Tuesday.

Well, a blog friend of mine, Big EZ, also has MM and blogged the fact that he had shingles. The more I read the more I kept saying to myself... Yes - I have that, Yes - I have that, etc.. So I emailed him and he encouraged me to call my Dr. right away and get in. I did that and his nurse said I would be in the office that evening. By the time I got there my chest hurt so much that I could barely take a breath. My Dr. looked for about 2 seconds and agreed it was shingles... Now with an anti-viral and a big bottle of codeine I'm on my way to getting better. The rash is still in the growing phase but my pain is under control. I went ahead and took a sick day from work so that will give me 3 whole days to get back on my feet.

A BIG thank you goes out to The BIG EZ.. for his help and support. Blog friends can get a great source of knowledge and support and I'm truly thankful for all my blog friends. The next 3 weeks won't be much fun but all in all I'm doing great. A small set back but it doesn't really change the larger picture.

The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...

All Clear for the next 6 months

Final visit to my local Oncologist today. That after my Free Light chain test and Bone scan. She said I was doing great and they will continue to watch me.

Not sure if my bone scan was clear because I forgot to ask, but she didn't say anything about it, so no news is good news. I will get a written request from the imaging clinic so I will know for sure then.

My Free light chain was about the same:

My kappa is high 23.42 (normal is 3.30 - 19.40)
My lambda is low 3.96 (normal is 5.71 - 26.30)
My ratio is: 5.91
My last kappa - lambda ratio was: 4.1

So it is up a bit, but nothing she was worried about.

I'll just relax for the next 6 month and enjoy life.

The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...

Stable

The visit to UCSF is over and all my numbers are good. The cancer hasn't started to run crazy yet so that is good. The only issue is my peripheral neuropathy. Dr. Martin had a lot of questions about that. Because I'm smoldering I shouldn't have any peripheral neuropathy. Well I do, and I went over it and that was that. Until last night at about 6:30 Dr. Martin called me at home to go over it again. I think the basic feeling is that the peripheral neuropathy isn't myeloma related. He is going to have my local oncologist refer me to a neurological specialist to run some tests.

One thing that is new to me is having so many doctors. I have spent my whole life just working with one, my GP. Yes, there was the occasional referral to get something specific done, but it was go there, get it done and move on. Now I have 3 Dr's that I see fairly regular. I just can't see adding another. Plus, they all want time lines on when it started, and that gets very confusing because the MM diagnosis and all that happened after that. I just get things mixed up, forget important parts.. well you know the story.

The cost thing set aside, I really don't know which way to turn. If, it isn't the myeloma then I wonder how important it is to really figure out what is causing it. I'm fairly well controlled on the medication my GP has me on. I can live and exercise almost normally. If it is the myeloma then I'm not sure a referral will help.

So, I guess I will go to my local oncologist the end of the month and ask some very direct questions about this. I hope that this gets settled quickly and finally.

The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...