For those who are interested, Gary posted a bit about his treatment history when he joined the forum on the 15th anniversary of his diagnosis. Here's a link to the post, and here's a copy of most of the post:
Well ... in November 1997 I was up, getting ready for work, and going to have a shower. When I reached up to grab a towel off the shower bar, all of a sudden I was on the floor and I could barely breathe, talk, or move!
After taking an ambulance to the local hospital, they confirmed that 3 vertebrae were fractured, with one being compressed and impacting on my spinal chord (1.5 millimeter away). The chord was doing a double 90 degree bend.
After 3 weeks of doing probably every test they had, they still hadn't come up with why this happened. I was then transferred over to Vancouver Hospital, spine unit. Within a half hour, they had done a biopsy and then came back to tell me that I had multiple myeloma. They also said that it was advanced stage 3 and that I had about 6 months to live!
I was devastated! About 3 hours later, the doctor came back and revised the estimated survival to 18 months.I was introduced to the bone marrow transplant staff, who were great! I was put on dexamethasone and put on the list for a stem cell transplant.
I had the stem cell transplant in June and August. but in the meantime, I had 2 more vertebrae go. The stem cell transplant was a success and I was in remission for about 4 years before it came back. Since then, a lot of bones have broke, a lot of drugs have been consumed, a lot of surgeries, a lot of radiations, a lot of emotions have soared, then plummeted.
I've been on Interferon (for only 3 weeks, as I couldn't tolerate it), thalidomide, Revlimid (twice), and am now taking pomalidomide (Pomalyst, Imnovid). All of these with the ever present dexamethasone. The dex gave me Type 2 diabetes and I'm also on insulin. It seems these drugs work great for a time, then the multiple myeloma does an end run and comes back with a vengeance!
I think the best thing i did at the onset was to turn my will and life over to the God of my understanding and let him do his thing! It has helped with a lot of the fear i had. I also made a decision to blindly trust my doctors and the rest of the team, as they had a good handle on this, I'm glad I did.
This disease not only affects me, but also those close to me. My kids were fairly young when I was diagnosed and they have handled it pretty well, but I can still notice fear in them regarding my health. My wife has been with me throughout the whole ordeal and is a source of great comfort, but it has definitely affected her also. Sometimes we feel like saying enough of the testing already!
Living with this has caused me to totally change my lifestyle, but it's still good! I go through ups and downs, but still manage to keep my humor (at least I still think I'm funny!).
