New to this forum, however not to the battle of multiple myeloma.
My spitfire of a mother was diagnosed in 2012 after having been told for years that it was arthritis in her back. She finally had a CT scan, which sat on her physician's desk for 3 weeks while he was on holidays. When he finally gave her the diagnosis, we were floored!
Next day we were meeting the oncologist and immediately admitted to the hospital (she had 2 compound fractures in her spine). She was given soothing pain meds and radiation. 3 weeks later she was home and she began Velcade treatment. A year later she began Revlimid and that did the trick until December 2015.
She has since started Pomalyst treatment. She managed one 21-day cycle and we had to admit her to the hospital. She had low levels of hemoglobin, platelets and neutrophils (white cells). She had a slight pneumonia and had collapsed during Easter supper - her heart went into atrial fibrillation.
She is home again, waiting for her levels to rise in order to attempt the second cycle of Pomalyst (however, they will reduce dosage to half).
She has been fortunate in this journey, no fractures except the initial compound fractures. She is mobile and is adapting to living alone (we lost our dad in January 2016).
She is weak, but very vigilant about falls and paces herself. My mother is determined to be independent for as long as she can. My brother (also a cancer survivor) and I keep tabs on her (which annoys her
) but she refuses any assistance at this time. She did give us each a copy of the house key following our sharing our concerns that she is unable to get to the door and/or we find her in a bad state - that was her solution
This is her journey and I respect that. I am allowed to worry and fret over her. However, I cannot live this for her or tell her how to live it. I am her primary caregiver, have been since the onset. I played this role with my father also (he had gastric cancer - which we found out too late had spread years later). My brother has survived a carcinoma in the throat; however it left much damage, he is still recovering.
Thanks for listening to my story.
