JimNY-
Thank you for the extra information! That was very helpful. The really confusing part is that the Doctor did say she has 5% plasma cells in her marrow (but no abnormal plasma cells). That continues to confuse me, as it seems like they ran a FISH panel so there must have been some kind of abnormality they saw fit to test? Or am I wrong?
It is a nice to hear that her M-Spike could be due to plasmacytoma alone. We wondered about that. The M-Spike was actually far less concerning to our Oncologist than the FLC ratio (which was slightly high at 2.3). She seems to have kappa monoclonal protein. Again, this could be from the plasmacytoma itself it sounds like.
It also sound like her M-Spike may take a while to go down? She is done with radiation and she is set to have blood work done in 3 weeks. Do you think that would be sufficient? I should add that her plasmacytoma WAS in the bone...but her BMB did come back with no abnormal cells, which leads Doctors to believe it's isolated to her T7.
Tigerboy1874- I am sorry to hear about your plasmacytoma and the fact that it did not react to radiation.
Remission for 6 years, however, is very great to hear. I hope you can get there again! Do you think the other lesions were there in 2007? Did they fail to do an MRI, skeletal survey and/or bone marrow biopsy then? Or did they truly occur 6 years later? How did you get to the decision of a stem cell transplant? All in all, your case seems to be much more manageable than some. I am just trying to wrap my head around the very different treatment paths that seem to exist.
LittleMonkey- Thank you for asking! I am in shock. My mom handled this radiation SO WELL! She has so much energy, which her Doctors are stunned about. Week 3 of radiation was the worst. She hit 'the wall' and was running off naps throughout the day. Being that I am a Registered Dietitian, I came up with a vitamin and nutrition regimen for her to start. She did and her energy levels skyrocketed. She goes as far as to say "I feel AMAZING!". So, we are thankful and feeling very blessed.
Thanks, all! I love all this advice
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