Billy Bob's Wild Ride: Pokerface

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Pokerface

Pokerface.

Lester Diamond.

Totally useless.

Apologies to James Wood.

See all the cells?

These are plasma cells. They have immunoglobulins attached to them. They are kinda shaped like a Y.

The inside of the Y are heavy chains. Notbillybob has CANCER of the light chains. They are called Kappa light chains. There are also Lambda light chains but they arent cancerous in his case. Kappa light chains are on the outside. Malignant.

There are lot of people,
family and friends who are wondering about this, diagnosis,...what the hell is it?

so heres how it goes...

The myeloma cells are all identical. They are the ones with all the little dots.

They have little dots in them. It's called an eccentric nucleus.

They are cells gone wrong. Rogue

then they start bunching up just like a pile of cards.

Bunching, bunching until...they make a tumor. Then they stimulate bone eating cells called

osteoclasts . These cell get busy making holes, Normally these cells work together with cells called osteoblasts which are suppose to fill in the holes,

but the cancerous plasma cells disrupt them.

Then the tumor supresses the osteoblasts.The end result;

areas which the outer wall of a bone which is called "CORTICAL BONE" is either just paper thin or gone all together.

Bone in human and other mammal bodies is generally classified into two types 1: Cortical bone, also known as compact bone and 2) Trabecular bone, also known as cancellous or spongy bone

but it doesn't end there.

Besides

being thinned out,

the trabecular

bone (inside) is replaced by stacks of

clones of plasma

free light chains

it just moves in like

an unwanted house guest

and eats all your cheese popcorn,

but seriously, The destroyed bone leaves you with high calcium in your blood, which damages

the kidneys...leading to dialysis or worse...end organ damage.

liver, kidneys... and the tumors just keep popping up wherever....

have to fight this...

And to fight this they will use either radiation, or steroids which are called chemotherapy, but are much different than that which notbillybobs' dad had. Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone for round one

The goal is.... REMISSSION.

Now it is Sunday. He has been in here since thursday.
Time to fly this coop.

Notbillybob would LIKE TO THANK EACH AND EVERYONE WHO CAME TO VISIT...TOOT TOOT, JOE,
RACHEL !!!!...JEN!!!... MOM, ANDREA, KATIE!!!

...P R I N C E P E S S A...

AND EVERYONE WHO LEFT LIKES AND LOVE. HE LOVES YA BACK!!!!

"It's not Frankenshtine,

its Fraunkensteen!"

"oh, so then is it Froadrick?

"No,it's Fredrick. And you must be Egor...

"No, it's Eyegor!!!

"They told me

it was Igor"

"Well they wuuh wrong wunt thay"

"bwahahahahahahaha!"

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Solitary plasmacytoma

Solitary plasmacytoma is a large solitary focus of plasma cell proliferation.

This tumor has a median patient age of approximately 10 years younger than multiple myeloma.

Pain is the most common symptom. However, if the myeloma occurs in the spine, it will usually present with fast developing paraplegia and gibbous deformity due to the vertebral collapse.

Complete Information on this Tumor

Introduction and Definition:

Solitary plasmacytoma is a large solitary focus of plasma cell proliferation. This tumor is extremely rare and is found in the proximal femur, vertebral bodies, and pelvis in order of descending frequency. Solitary plasmacytoma occurs 70% of the time as an osseous lesion, and the rest of the cases are non-osseous lesions usually found in the upper respiratory tract. Approximately 70% of the patients with solitary plasmacytoma develop multiple myeloma.

Incidence and Demographics:

This tumor has a median patient age of approximately 10 years younger than multiple myeloma, and affects men more than women.

Symptoms and Presentation:

Pain is the most common symptom. However, if the myeloma occurs in the spine, it will usually present with fast developing paraplegia and gibbous deformity due to the vertebral collapse.

X-Ray Appearance and Advanced Imaging Findings:

Radiologically, solitary plasmacytoma appears identical to multiple myeloma.

Differential Diagnosis:

Most authors agree on a strict diagnostic criteria for solitary plasmacytoma. There may be no other radiological identifiable lesions, and bone marrow at another site must have no abnormal plasma cells. There may be no serum abnormalities and no Bence-Jones proteins in the urine. Some authors believe that the diagnosis can only be made if no other lesion is found for a period greater than 1 year.

Preferred Biopsy Technique for this Tumor:

Bone marrow biopsy

Histopathology findings:

Microscopically, solitary plasmacytoma appears as well to poorly differentiated sheets of plasma cells. These cells produce the same osteoclast stimulating factors found in multiple myeloma.

Treatment Options for this Tumor:

Treatment of solitary plasmacytoma includes radiation or en-bloc surgical resection. If abnormal serum or urine findings are present then the patient must be treated as if they have multiple myeloma with chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant 2.

Outcomes of Treatment and Prognosis:

Patients with solitary plasmacytoma have a better prognosis than patients with multiple myeloma, but 70% of solitary plasmacytoma patients develop multiple myeloma, and usually die within 5 years.

Graduation Day

LINAC U

You'd think that 25 radiation treatments wouldn't amount to much of anything. It doesn't sound like a lot.

...25 trips to the hospital. We were wrong. We started the week before Thanksgiving after a month long delay because of a bad bad flu like cold I developed. They wanted a commitment, with as few absences as possible, so we waited. The coughing up blood and fevers subsided, then we started, and got our groove. I say WE because Notbillybob's wife, Sharon drove most days. I was just along for the ride. Well, after 10 treatments, the tiredness set in. Especially for her. Like a new part time job. Notbillybob feeling like a roast ham most days. Kind of like a sun burn inside your guts. He made a big mistake in eating jalapenos one night. Ooh, the burn. So, they asked the doc if the stomach was getting radiation. They said "lets pull up your treatment plan... Yes, see here, inside this red line. The treatment plan showed that it was. The innermost red line is the most radiation, the outer one is the least. The green one is in the middle. A good part of the stomach is even inside the blue line.

The pain was accounted for. They told us that they were also concerned with his platelet count. It was going down again. Down to 37! (Low is 150) It has since stabilized at 40. The thing is that the white cells, red cells, hematocrit are all low. Way low. Bilirubin is elevated. INR is elevated. Not billybob began wearing a mask to treatments. Don't need cooties at a time like this.

Then the really cold weather set in. I know, I know- it doesn't really cause colds and "death of pneumonia" like our moms used to say, but when you have cancer of the immune cells, and then your white cell count goes in the toilet as well...

Notbillybob is going to stay a hermit for the foreseeable future.

But SMILE!

New Years eve was treatment number 25. Graduation day! Graduation from LINAC U!

(LINAC is a Linear Accelerator, an IMRT radiation therapy machine)