OH MY ACHIN' BACK

     Not a lot to report as of late, but I did have 2 sets of 3 MRIs on my spine yesterday.  I must admit, it was so much easier than the MRIs I had while in the throws of my cancer and spasms at UCSF.  At my appointment a few weeks ago, Dr. Burch informed me that he wanted an MRI of my thorasic spine where the 4 collapsed vertebra are (T3, T9, T10, T11) because the x-rays we took up there weren't good enough.  When I talked to one of  the technicians about my appointment, she said that Dr. Burch had changed the orders and he now wanted an MRI of the cervical, thorasic and lumbar spine areas.  BUT WAIT, there's more... he also wanted a second set with contrast (dye).  He wanted to see if any damage had happened to my cervical, thorasic and lumbar spine since the surgery on my lumbar and thorasic spine (L1, L4, T12) back on Nov. 20th, which was 3 months prior to my bone marrow and stem cell transplants.  So yesterday I spent most of the morning having all of those done.  I don't know if the machine at UCSF is older or newer, but I do know that it was not nearly as noisy!  The first thing the technician did as we entered the MRI room was he handed me ear plugs.  An hour and 15 minutes of lying still with your head in a brace is not as easy as it sounds.  Thank heaven I'm not claustrephobic.  You can't relax because of the noise and you're afraid that you'll move too much and you'll have to start over.  Plus you're lying on a metal slab. Of course it was just after I went back into the tube after he injected the dye that I thought about maybe a little support under my neck and in the small of my back.  After the session I mentioned it to him and he apologized.  He said most sessions take 15-20 minutes so he didn't think about it.  Don't know when I'll hear about the results.  They go back to Dr. Burch then he'll call.  I'll let you know.
     I'm doing much better on the Revlamid this time around.  They're thinking that maybe my bad gall bladder was part of the problem the first time.  I am definitely not having the nausea problem I had the first time around.  With our favorite restaurant Lolo's closing (actually closed as of 7/29), we hit it pretty hard the last week.  Yesterday we had a fantastic bbq at our friends the Griffiths.  If Hillary would have been there she would have gotten pictures.   Let me paint one for you.  Picture oak wood bbq'd pork ribs and tri-tip, grilled garlic bread, 7 different kinds of salads, watermelon, fresh corn on the cobb and cheesecake for desert.  I ate it all except for 3 of the salads.  A lot of it.  I took 2 of my "digest assist" pills in stead of 1, and didn't have any real repercussions.  I think I'm on my way to finally gaining a little weight.
     The worst side effects now are the muscle and body/bone aches.  The worst of it starts happening about 1/2 an hour after taking my pill in the evening.  By morning it's lessened.  By the afternoon it's not too bad, but then my back usually has taken over as the primary pain center and stays that way until I take the next days pill.  BUT, I'm not having the headaches, nausea and night sweats, so it's a very good trade off, and we're hoping that they will diminish over time as well. 
     So all in all, I'm doing great!  I was even able to drive the car and trailer down to So Cal and back this past Fri. and Sat. to move Hillary (twice, but I'll let her tell that story).  I couldn't lift the heavy stuff, but I made a few trips with the lighter things.  We had a great visit with our friends Gerg & Terrylynn Fisher too.
     Thank you all for your continuing prayers and good thoughts on our behalf.  Now that Hillary's gone, both Dale and I are REALLY going to need them more than ever.  Love.  Kevin