[Wayne K]

New to the forum, 4 year patient

by Wayne K on Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:09 pm

I had a very healthy life until I hit a wall at 62, but had lost my sister, 2 years my junior, in '95 from Multiple Myeloma. I was diagnosed with lung cancer that Fall and consequently during evaluation I was also diagnosed with CLL. I had surgery and have been free of that cancer since. Two years later I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and after a summer of radiation I was free of it and only visiting a hematologist every 6 months to monitor my CLL. In the Fall of '08 I begin having some symptoms that had I known more, indicated multiple myeloma. In March of '09 I had an appointment with my hematologist and by coincidence 3 days before I had some serious health problems, but before I made any decision the symptoms started to subside. It took my doctor a minute to look at my blood work and send me to the hospital.
My journey began with a Bence Jones diagnosis and dialysis. I was put on Valvade and prednisone for a 90 day regimen. I managed to get off dialysis in the fall. I started the process of eligibility for a stem cell transplant in January of '10 and successfully completed it in April. The transplant wasn't easy and threatened my life to some extent, but on the other side I've been in remission since.
My Lambda is just starting to rise and my ratio has fallen, so I believe the third chapter of my story may be beginning. Time will tell.

[Ricardo]

Re: New to the forum, 4 year patient

by Ricardo on Tue Aug 27, 2013 5:17 pm

Wow, Wayne. You've really been through a lot! Congratulations on succeeding so well in all the battles you've had with cancer so far. I hope the concern you have that your myeloma may be starting to rear its head again is wrong, and that what you've been seeing is just a temporary blip.

In any case, welcome to the forum. I hope you find it helpful, and that you're also able to help some of the others here given all the experience that you have.