Hi,
My name is Jan, and my dad was recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He is based in India, and I live in the US. We are very scared with all that is to come. He has already started steroids and will be starting chemo soon. He is almost 80, so his options for treatment are limited.
Thankful for this community and I look forward to any insight others could share. Everything feels so uncertain right now. My mom is helping him, but she is 70 plus too. I'll be visiting off and on, and we have some other family help available.
I have a small child so I have been battling too many things trying to make a choice between leaving a little child behind and to be there for my dad. Don't know if I should leave my job and go, or should I see how he responds to the treatment and then decide. His is an aggressive kind. It breaks my heart to not be there with him through this ordeal, but it also breaks my heart to leave the child behind just with my husband.
Just so confused and baffled. Still trying to process the news.
Forums
2 posts
• Page 1 of 1
-
PCJ - Name: PCJ
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Dad
- When were you/they diagnosed?: April 2016
- Age at diagnosis: 78
Re: Dad recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma
I am very sorry to hear of your father's diagnosis, PCJ.
It is true that older multiple myeloma patients generally have more limited treatment options than younger patients. However, the restriction mainly has to do with how many drugs they can be treated with at one time, and the doses they can tolerate.
If your father lives in a major metropolitan area in India, and if he can get around without too much difficulty, then it would be worth seeing if he can placed under the care of a myeloma specialist. That would be a hematologist / oncologist who mainly sees myeloma patients, and who may even do research in the field.
This posting has a short list of myeloma specialists in India:
https://myelomabeacon.org/forum/multiple-myeloma-specialist-india-t3168.html
Even if none of those specialists are in the area where your father lives, they may be able to recommend a specialist who is.
One reason it would be advisable for your father to see a specialist is because there is new research that has come out during the past couple of years about better ways to treat older, more frail, myeloma patients. A myeloma specialist is more likely to be aware of this research, and be incorporating it into his/her daily practice.
Good luck!
It is true that older multiple myeloma patients generally have more limited treatment options than younger patients. However, the restriction mainly has to do with how many drugs they can be treated with at one time, and the doses they can tolerate.
If your father lives in a major metropolitan area in India, and if he can get around without too much difficulty, then it would be worth seeing if he can placed under the care of a myeloma specialist. That would be a hematologist / oncologist who mainly sees myeloma patients, and who may even do research in the field.
This posting has a short list of myeloma specialists in India:
https://myelomabeacon.org/forum/multiple-myeloma-specialist-india-t3168.html
Even if none of those specialists are in the area where your father lives, they may be able to recommend a specialist who is.
One reason it would be advisable for your father to see a specialist is because there is new research that has come out during the past couple of years about better ways to treat older, more frail, myeloma patients. A myeloma specialist is more likely to be aware of this research, and be incorporating it into his/her daily practice.
Good luck!
2 posts
• Page 1 of 1
Return to Member Introductions / Personal Stories