[littlebulehat]

Dad dignosed last Aug, now complete response

by littlebulehat on Sun Jul 21, 2013 8:58 pm

hi everyone,

I am so glad found this website! please excuse my English as it is not my first language.

My dad diagnosed myeloma stage 1 last Aug. my parent live in China and I live in New Zealand with my husband and our 1 year old daughter. I could not believe what I was hearing when my mom told me the shocking new thou the phone, as my dad is always very healthy and he was only 52. My dad went though a yearly regular exam and they found something wrong with his blood test result and then diagnosed multiple myeloma.

before the diagnose, my dad suffers pain on one of his heel for several years. he could only walk for 15 mins max and the pain became severe. at the beginning we thought it was because my dad was a basketball player when he was young, and the sport might hurt his heel without noticed. he went to the hospital and got no answer, only got pain killers.

at the same time, my grandma (my dad's mom) began to have the symptoms of myeloma, but at that time, no one in our family knows this disease. we sent her to several different hospitals and they all didn't know what was exactly going on. some said it was Senile osteoporosis, some said it was other diseases. my grandma passed away 1 year later (at 2008), after in and out different hospitals, received different helpless treatments. at last few months she suffered insufferable pain. but not a single doctor could tell us what disease my grandma had until she die.

4 years later, when my dad diagnosed myeloma, the first thought pop up on my mind was I don't believe what the doctors said. but after I brought my dad's test results to the myeloma socialist in my city, I had to accept the fact. My dad is a very brave man, after 5 courses of treatment, now he is at CR stage. I am not sure if DNZ can carry the infomation which cause myeloma. doctor says family history is not a determining factor which cause this illness, but what is the determining factor? no one know so far.

[Ron Harvot]

Re: Dad dignosed last Aug, now complete response

by Ron Harvot on Wed Aug 07, 2013 1:56 pm

Gina,

Sorry to hear about your father's diagnosis but glad the treatment is working for him so far.

The doctors your dad is seeing are correct that their is no family link with Myeloma. Most of the research points to environmental causes like exposure to pesticides, chemical agents or a reaction to a virus. The fact that his mother may also may have had the disease would indicate that they were both exposed to the same environmental agent. If they lived in a rural area perhaps chemicals or pesticides were used in the fields that they were exposed to. Perhaps the water they drank was contaminated with chemical agents. Whatever the cause that knowledge is not going to help him now. It may however prevent others from suffering the same fate.

Keep us up to date with his journey.

I wish him the best and hope he can stay in remission.

Ron