Hi,
My name is Donna and my husband is Alan. Together we are Aladon.
Alan was diagnosed with light chain multiple myeloma 3 weeks ago. He has had a week of radiation and has started a 6 month relationship with induction therapy which will be followed by a stem cell transplant.
Scary times for us.
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2 posts
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Re: Hello from northern Ontario, Canada
Hello Donna,
I'm sorry to hear of your husband's diagnosis. You've found a good place, however, for information and perspective.
As you've probably already learned, about 15-20 percent of new multiple myeloma diagnoses are the "light chain" variety. I would imagine that your husband's doctors will track his disease mainly using the serum free light chain test, which measures his kappa and lambda free light chain levels, and also gives you the ratio of the two levels (the "kappa/lambda ratio"). You initially will want to focus on what happens to whichever of the kappa and lambda levels is very high right now compared to the normal range; the very high free light chain type (kappa or lambda) is his "involved" light chain. It's really the kappa-lambda ratio, though, that is critical for assessing whether or not much disease is still present, because factors such as infection can cause both the kappa and lambda level to go up or down.
You can find many discussions related to light chain myeloma and the free light chain test here in the forum. Just enter single key words such as "light", "kappa", "lambda", or "ratio", without the quotation marks, into the forum search box (and don't be overwhelmed by how many search results show up!).
This is also a good post for finding forum discussions on subjects you're interested in:
https://myelomabeacon.org/forum/links-existing-forum-discussions-t3780.html
I am sure this is a worrisome time for you, your husband, and your family. Myeloma is a very treatable cancer, however, and there is a tremendous amount of research going on that is coming up with additional therapies almost every year. So there is hope.
Cheers!
I'm sorry to hear of your husband's diagnosis. You've found a good place, however, for information and perspective.
As you've probably already learned, about 15-20 percent of new multiple myeloma diagnoses are the "light chain" variety. I would imagine that your husband's doctors will track his disease mainly using the serum free light chain test, which measures his kappa and lambda free light chain levels, and also gives you the ratio of the two levels (the "kappa/lambda ratio"). You initially will want to focus on what happens to whichever of the kappa and lambda levels is very high right now compared to the normal range; the very high free light chain type (kappa or lambda) is his "involved" light chain. It's really the kappa-lambda ratio, though, that is critical for assessing whether or not much disease is still present, because factors such as infection can cause both the kappa and lambda level to go up or down.
You can find many discussions related to light chain myeloma and the free light chain test here in the forum. Just enter single key words such as "light", "kappa", "lambda", or "ratio", without the quotation marks, into the forum search box (and don't be overwhelmed by how many search results show up!).
This is also a good post for finding forum discussions on subjects you're interested in:
https://myelomabeacon.org/forum/links-existing-forum-discussions-t3780.html
I am sure this is a worrisome time for you, your husband, and your family. Myeloma is a very treatable cancer, however, and there is a tremendous amount of research going on that is coming up with additional therapies almost every year. So there is hope.
Cheers!
2 posts
• Page 1 of 1
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