My beautiful husband Rob was diagnosed with kappa light chain multiple myeloma, ISS Stage 3 (deletion of chromosome 13 and translocation of 4;14) in January this year. We live in a small city in the North of New Zealand. We are in our 30's and have a wonderful little 2 year old girl. When he was diagnosed, we were in the process of purchasing our first home, planning to extend our family, and loving every aspect of life, so to say this was a shock and not part of the plan is a bit of an understatement.
Rob has had 4 months of cyclophosphamide, bortezomib (Velcade), and dexamethasone (CyBorD) and 2 of CyBor and thalidomide. With his tumor burden down to 20% from 95%, he is now beginning the stem cell transplant process.
Although we are incredibly lucky to have phenomenal support from a large network of friends and family, I often can't shake off feeling quite alone (as does Rob). All our friends are pregnant, getting married, buying homes etc. None (bar one who recently lost her mother to myeloma) really understand our journey and often seem unsure what to say to us – understandably. I am looking forward to having the opportunity to chat to people who have walked this path before and being able to openly discuss the 'M' word and all that comes with it without upsetting anyone and sending them running
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