How quickly things change. The results of my bone marrow biopsy came in yesterday and they were pretty discouraging. The myeloma cells in my marrow has jumped from 70% in April to 95% at present. Dr. Green my oncologist wants to start a new regime soon since the current treatment clearly isn’t working. He wanted to wait until after the results of my PET scan, originally scheduled for today. But… the Nuclear Medicine Department at Kaiser called me late afternoon yesterday to say that the machine was “down” and I would need to reschedule. So much for preparing for the last 48 hours for the PET scan (including no exercising, high protein/low carb diet and then fasting). The first available appointment for a PET scan is November 15. Two weeks to wait. Dr. Green said that as long as I’m not having symptoms, notably bone pain, we can wait until then. What this means for now is that I’m even more vulnerable to infections since the myeloma cells are crowding out my red blood cells as well as my white blood cells that produce protective antibodies. Between COVID and the flu (all my shots are up-to-date), I have to continue being hyper-vigilant. Sigh.

A few persimmon leaves from my tree. There are still persimmons on the tree, but they're all more than 20 feet high, too much of a reach for my special persimmon gathering pole. The birds will enjoy them.