I'm pleased to find this forum!
I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in early December 2010. I'm 51 and have always been in very good health, with no issues other than an underactive thyroid. I had been having some off and on pain in my right arm which I assumed was due to sleeping in a weird position or something like that; I finally went to see the doctor about it in October, and he prescribed Advil and physical therapy. The PT really didn't do much and the pain actually started to get worse, so I was sent to an orthopedist. He took some X-rays and told me it was calcific tendonitis; he gave me a shot of cortisone, told me to stop the PT and to take more Advil.
The cortisone actually did help somewhat and I was starting to feel things were improving, when I slipped and fell on the stairs in my home. I grabbed onto the railing with my bad arm and really wrenched it; after that I couldn't move it away from my side or overhead at all. I went back to the orthopedist and at that time he ordered an MRI and then CT scans--I think at that point he was thinking rotator cuff tear or something like that. When the scans came back, they showed that I'd fractured my scapula, and also showed lesions which were strongly indicative of multiple myeloma. My doctor ordered additional testing and that's when I got the diagnosis. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked--cancer had never crossed my mind as a possibility. I guess it's good in a way that I did fall when I did, or I might not have been diagnosed for quite a while, until I fractured something more serious or started having other issues.
So far my test results have been pretty good considering; my bone marrow biopsy showed 15% cancer cells, no vital organs are affected, kidney function is normal, all other blood work was normal. The multiple myeloma seems to have just affected my shoulders and arms. I had 8 radiation treatments for the fracture and that will be it for radiation, at least for now. I've just finished the first cycle of a Phase 3 clinical trial in which I'm taking Revlimid, Dexamethasone and Velcade; so far the side effects have been manageable. Of course I'm just at the beginning of all this so I don't yet know if this treatment will be successful, although I certainly hope I respond well to it! I'm meeting with the transplant doctor on February 9th and it looks like I'll be undergoing a stem cell harvest fairly soon, although my doctor doesn't think I'll actually have a transplant (autologous) for at least a couple of years. He says because of my "youth"
he is focusing on "length of life and quality of life" which certainly sounds good to me!It's been a really scary couple of months but I'm starting to feel more in control now that my treatments have started and I'm actually doing something--the hardest time was waiting for the test results and waiting to find out what my treatment would be. I do feel grateful that at least if I had to get this disease, it's now and not 20 years ago. There have been so many advancements in treatment!
I look forward to reading all of your stories and I wish you all the very best!
Karen
