[shirsch]

Multiple Myeloma and Colon Cancer

by shirsch on Tue Oct 04, 2011 6:31 pm

Hello all, My name Sandy, and I was dx with multiple myeloma Aug. 09. Started Rev, Dex Velcade got M spikedown to 1.1 from 3.5. Had SCT at Duke in June 2010. in Remission short while, 7 months. then started trending upward,. Even while on BiRD program, M spike still rising..now 2.8. Just dx with colon cancer last wk. Also have type 2 diabetes that is very sensitive and hard to control. They also found 2 lesions on my liver that lit up on PET ! Is there anyone out there who has had these two cancers together. Thanks for your responses..sandy

[sew&sew]

Re: Multiple Myeloma and Colon Cancer

by sew&sew on Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:27 am

Hello. My mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma 8/23/11 She is also &11 yr.colon cancer survivor. The colon cancer was caught early ( had not gone through wall). She was 77 at that time. Had anemia for 2 yrs. prior to diagnosis was only symptom. was treatment. surgically with removal of half her colon, then chemo. Chemo caused peritonitis, anemia got worse but got procrit shotswhich made possible to continue chemo. The multiple myeloma was misdiagnosed for 2 yrs. or more Had been seeing pain control Dr.for pain in leg ,hip, back then got severe shingles & pain kept getting worse even on fentanyl patch & percoset + 3,000 mg neurontin & nothing touched the pain till last march she had a spinal cord stimulator implanted which got pain under control along with some percoset (neuropathy severe). Last Jan. her calciium started running high, was sent to endocrinologist (had 1 high reading PTH but never repeated). He said she had hyperparathyroidism but couldn' find the adenoma he said was causing it so of course they did exploratory surgery. Surprise, surprise no adenoma found (oops).that was in June 2011. After the colon ca. still had some anemia but eventually it (hgb) stabilized near normal. Not long after shingles Hgb started dropping (oncologist was checking it) On 8/5/11 Mom collapsed (lost conciousness) & broke both ankes requireing surgical fix. Anemia (low Hgb) caused her to pass out. during 10 day hospitilizationona cat scan taken to see if she had bleeding in abdomin they accidentallysaw image of bone lesion (lytic on Femur), did 3hr.operation for bone marrow biopsy, multiple blood transfusions,FB bone scan, FB bone survey, proteins ect. ect. & led to dx multiple myeloma. Non wight bearing 8/5 - 9?28 still can't walk, in skilled nursing 4 wks & picked up c diff infection still being treatment & hospital x's 4. treatment. with Zometa X"s 1 for hypercalcemia. Every time c diff flares up all her labs go crazy. Albumin very low. oncologist doesn't think can tolerate chemo/radiation. She is not you though (smile).

[Dr. Peter Voorhees]

Re: Multiple Myeloma and Colon Cancer

by Dr. Peter Voorhees on Tue Nov 15, 2011 5:49 am

Dear Sandy,

I think it will be important to determine what stage your colon cancer is. In this regard, it will be important to determine whether the liver lesions seen on the PET scan are the consequence of colon cancer spreading to this site or myeloma spreading to this site (or something unrelated). Colon cancer commonly moves to the liver, whereas liver involvement with myeloma is not as common (but it does happen). This will have bearing on your therapy moving forward. If you have early stage colon cancer that has been effectively cured with surgery, and the liver lesions are myeloma or unrelated to cancer, you can focus on myeloma therapy. If you have myeloma progressing on therapy and colon cancer affecting the liver, the situation is more difficult. Your cancer therapy would need to be carefully coordinated between your myeloma and colon cancer specialists under these circumstances.

I hope this helps. Best of luck!

Pet eV.