New Oncologist in Idaho Falls, Idaho - January 4 2012

I drove myself 100 miles from Mackay, Idaho to Idaho Falls, Idaho to meet my new oncologist, Christian Shull, MD.  I have to leave our Big Lost River Valley drive across the high desert to Idaho Falls which is before you get to the Tetons.

Twin Buttes on Highway 20 January 4 2012

Tetons way off in the distance on Highway 20 January 4 2012.

We had a good meeting and he had the orders for maintenance chemotherapy and labs from my transplant doctor, Han Myint, MD at the University of Colorado Hospital. Dr. Shull ordered a repeat echocardiogram for me for tomorrow to evaluate my right atrial blood clot in my heart.

Dr. Shull's office, Snake River Oncology is large. Without Jani, I had to take my own picture, I think the receptionist thought I was crazy.

Fishing photos on the exam room.

My white blood cells are below normal at 3.3 (norms 4.1 to 10.9 at this lab). I continue NOT anemic with a normal Hg at 13.5 (norms 12 to 18 at this lab), and my platelets are normal at 285 (norms 140 to 440 at this lab). My MCV (mean corpuscular volume) or size of the average red blood cell is high at 98.5 (norms 80-97) probably due to the change in elevation between Colorado and Idaho.

I don't have the other lab values yet because they send them out. In addition, I asked if they had lab values available online and they do not - Dr. Shull said "Welcome to rural Idaho!" when I asked about it. I'm going to ask that they mail (snail mail) them to me in Mackay.


I finally got the January 4 2012 lab values on January 16 2012.

I had a nice email from Shirley Olsen offering to take me to Idaho Falls tomorrow for my echocardiogram. I emailed her back that I was fine and thanked her for the offer.

Day 91 - A Yippee Kind of Day - December 13 2011

UCH scheduled my Bard Power Port removal for this Thursday, December 15 2011 - Yippee!

I'm going home to Mackay, Idaho on December 27th! My Transplant Nurse Coordinator, Lindsey, and Social Worker, Amy, are making all the arrangements with my new oncologist in Idaho Falls, Idaho, Christian Shull, MD. So, I'll finish out my first month of maintenance Velcade/Dex/Zometa/Revlimid chemotherapy and head home the next day. I've been gone since May 11 2011.

Yippee! The Prilosec 40 mg and Zantac 150 mg one hour prior to my Velcade/Dex yesterday worked magic and I did not have ANY acid burning in my esophagus and stomach like I had in Week 1 Month 1.

And, another Yippee! I bought a new 15 inch MacBook Pro laptop with all the same software in Apple versions today! They threw in a new printer and scanner for free. I went shopping fully intending on getting a new Dell PC, but I (well, maybe Jani twisting my arm a little) decided that if I was going to have to learn the new Windows operating system (I have Windows XP on this old laptop I'm using now) that I might as well learn the MacBook Pro way. They had to order my MacBook Pro today, so I won't get it until just before I leave for Idaho. However, they are taking all of my external harddrives (I have 4) and converting the files from PC to Apple in some way, so when my MacBook Pro arrives, I'll be able to read my many files. However, if my blog ceases, you can pretty much bet, I'm somewhere on the learning curve. Jani is a MacBook Pro user and I'm going to start taking some kitchen counter lessons beginning tomorrow.

Jani and I baked Gramma Rebein Christmas Cookies today for neighbors...and they turned out wonderful the first time...we usually can't remember how to make them each year --- but, we did good this year on the first attempt!