“Is it working?” I get asked that a lot. The answer: cautiously, yes.

With some types of cancer, the goal is to destroy every last cancer cell. Waldenström’s is different: treatment aims to push the disease back. Because Waldenström’s is a chronic condition, ongoing monitoring is needed.

The treatment targets the malignant cells that have built up in my bone marrow. Hopefully, that will give my body more room to make healthy blood cells again. It’s just not happening as fast as I thought (or I wasn’t paying attention, hello ‘brain fog’).

Getting my blood counts back up could take months, possibly even years. It varies from person to person and also depends on how my body responds to the treatment. Waldenström’s is clearly not a flu you bounce back from in a few days.

The numbers: first round vs. fifth round of chemo

• IgM kappa (abnormal protein): down 12%, from 5.6 to 4.9 g/L
• IgG kappa (abnormal protein): down 25%, from 42.7 to 32.2 g/L
• Hb: up 6%, from 6.7 to 7.1 mmol/L (108 to 114 g/L)

More information on IgM and IgG can be found here.

Most of my other blood work looks good. Despite the chemo, my immune system and platelets are holding steady and my kidneys are working just fine. Only my red blood cells are lagging behind. My bone marrow clearly needs more time to get back up to full speed.

Interim conclusion: the abnormal protein levels are dropping and my Hb is rising. It’s slow going, but it’s heading in the right direction.

There’s at least one more round of chemo to go, then possibly two more, depending on my numbers.