
Despite stress and setbacks, and a lot more expense than we had expected, I am in my new home in Julian, California, a small mountain community famous for its apples and daffodils. My wonderful mate Kaitlin has gone back to Tucson to prepare our house for sale, but our old dog, Gus, is keeping me company as I sit and read in front of the wood-burning stove.
Our manufactured home, turned into an amazing refuge by Kaitlin, is on …
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It had been almost two months since I stopped treatment, and it seemed to be going well. Then I crashed, hard. I woke up in the small hours of the morning feeling miserable, heart flutters, elevated pulse rate, sore all over. It was the same in the morning after a fitful sleep. No appetite, breathless with any movement. Not fun. Like detoxing all over again.
I was better the next day, not 100 percent (whatever that is anymore), but reasonably functional. The crash might have …
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As I write this, it’s been six weeks since I stopped my most recent myeloma treatment regimen, the “last ditch” Velcade (bortezomib), cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan), and dexamethasone (CyBorD) therapy that was sending my blood pressure dangerously high and doubling my pulse rate. I have met with my oncology team and they are okay with my decision to choose quality of life over the increasing misery of treatment.
I should note that my spouse and I agree that this is the …
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I find the Myeloma Beacon patient columns and forum very informative and useful, but they are surprisingly short on what comes with relapse when there are no more realistic treatment options. I’m facing that situation now and thought I’d chronicle my journey along this next part of the road in a regular column, in hopes that it will be of use to others.
I am 81 years old, diagnosed in June 2017, at age …
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