Hello:
My name is Colleen; I am married with one son and four grandchildren and retired approximately 1 1/2 years ago.
After being treated for rheumatoid arthritis for nine years successfully with Enbrel and no progression of the disease, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 2016, my rheumatologist discovered an abnormal protein in my blood. Considered smoldering multiple myeloma, no lesions were found through skeletal survey, PET scan. The challenge today is to manage RA major flares as a result of discontinuing Enbrel and bone pain. Have had one Zometa treatment and two iron Infusions. Still in process of determining next steps.
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cblaesing - Name: Colleen Blaesing
- Who do you know with myeloma?: myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: October 2016
- Age at diagnosis: 63
Re: Colleen, 63, newly diagnosed October 2016
Welcome to the forum, Colleen. Sorry about your diagnosis, but hopefully you'll stay smoldering for a VERY long time.
You've probably found it already, but there's a whole section of the forum with posts related to smoldering myeloma.
Also, to give you an idea of which lab results you may want to start tracking to see whether your disease is staying stable or not, you may want to check out Multibilly's postings in this thread. For example, this post in the thread I just mentioned has graphs of Multibilly's lab results since his diagnosis with smoldering myeloma several years ago through last September.
The key lab results he's tracking are his M-spike and free light chain results, but you'll see he's also tracking his immunoglobulin levels (especially his "involved" immunoglobulin, IgG), and I think he's also tracking his hemoglobin, calcium, and beta-2 microglobulin results.
One thing that's especially valuable about his graphs is they give a sense of how some lab results can bounce around without there being a real trend.
Good luck!
You've probably found it already, but there's a whole section of the forum with posts related to smoldering myeloma.
Also, to give you an idea of which lab results you may want to start tracking to see whether your disease is staying stable or not, you may want to check out Multibilly's postings in this thread. For example, this post in the thread I just mentioned has graphs of Multibilly's lab results since his diagnosis with smoldering myeloma several years ago through last September.
The key lab results he's tracking are his M-spike and free light chain results, but you'll see he's also tracking his immunoglobulin levels (especially his "involved" immunoglobulin, IgG), and I think he's also tracking his hemoglobin, calcium, and beta-2 microglobulin results.
One thing that's especially valuable about his graphs is they give a sense of how some lab results can bounce around without there being a real trend.
Good luck!
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