by lrankin on Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:46 pm
First, I hesitate to say things because I am new to myeloma journey and don't want to give any medical advice. From what I have been told by doctors, the stage in myeloma is not an indication of prognosis like other cancers. I am fairly new on this journey, as my husband was diagnosed in May, 2015.
You are lucky to have found this forum - it has helped us so much.
Also, there is going to be so much coming at you. You want to understand some key things from his blood work. What is his M-spike number? 0 is normal. You don't want this number high.
It might be useful to hear about my husband's experience
My husband had terrible back pain. Saw the ortho specialist and he saw myeloma and immediately had us schedule test. My husband's pain got so bad I had him admitted to his hospital and they had all the tests done a week.
My husband was diagnosed in May with Stage 3. His M-spike (measures certain protein indicating myeloma) was 2.2 g/dL (22 g/L). He had / has a lot of lesions on his bones. His calcium levels were high, but they were able to bring this down. (Kidney failure / dialysis sometimes happens).
Within 2 weeks of diagnosis, he started his treatment of Revlimid, Velcade, dexamethasone. He would go 3 weeks on and 1 week off. After 5 cycles, he is in remission. He will have a stem cell transplant.
I hope this helped some.
