Long response - read to the end......
As was mentioned here and elsewhere, in November my mother's condition was deteriorating rapidly. She had four collapsed vertebrae, scans showed considerable bone damage from the myeloma, she was not doing well with the narcotic painkillers and was delirious much the time, and still in constant, moaning, groaning, pain.
The vertebroplasty performed to relieve the pain in the collapsed vertebrae was deemed successful and, gradually, they started weaning her off narcotics and onto other painkillers. This restored most of her lucidity, although her general mood and demeanor continued to decline - she began to refuse to participate in her PT/OT sessions, was continuing to refuse to eat, was clearly becoming depressed, and we were beginning to discuss moving her to hospice care.
As questions over her Medicare coverage were raised, we had to give it to her straight. I told her that if she wanted to stop treatment and just ride this out, that was ok - dad and I would respect it, and it was HER decision, not ours. Otherwise, she had to try, or we were going to run into financial complications taking care of her. No response.
The next day: TOTAL TURNAROUND. She decided to try. She started doing her PT.
A few days later: she said she was hungry and started eating again. She said pain was suddenly reduced; not gone, but hugely minimized and she was starving, bored, and dying to get up and move around as much as she was able.
Blood results: clear signs of the myeloma proteins being "pushed back" (as the doctor put it), bones improving, and the Revlimid-dex doing their job.
Outcome? She is being discharged HOME tomorrow. She's frail and still a little fuzzy around the edges occasionally, but rational, mobile with a cane/walker and enough time to move slowly, and there is hope that continued improvement will get her back to many of her normal daily activities.
She is apparently a real miracle of modern medicine! I'm not naive enough to think this is now "over", but I think we can say we are cautiously optimistic. It is incredible to me that 3 weeks ago this woman couldn't/wouldn't get out of a hospital bed even when assisted, could barely string a sentence together, and had pretty much given up.
I hope this long saga will give encouragement to others fighting this disease!!!
