A recent event gave me food for thought.

I started writing this column exactly one year from the date I was ad­mitted to under­go an autol­o­gous stem cell trans­plant. Coinci­dentally, my latest three-month check-up occurred on that very same day. I have not been one who believes that a new life begins with a transplant, replete with the cele­bra­tion of new birth­days, so I have not made a big deal of this one-year anni­ver­sary.

However, the fact that it often takes up to a year (or longer) to determine a transplant's level of success did heighten my interest in seeing the test re­sults from my latest check-up.

I can access and review my blood test results online through a portal of my cancer center. Those tests in­clude 51 different pieces of data. Of particular concern to me recently was the fact that, in my March test re­sults, the CBC Differential Platelet Test had seven items flagged as being too high or too low. In addition, all three of the free light chain test results were showing a steady increase.

To better understand what these flags meant, I dutifully researched terms such as “RBC distri­bu­tion," "mono­cytes," "eosino­phils," "lymphs," "EOS absolute," "platelet count," and "mean platelet volume.” In previous columns, I have indicated my lack of interest in all things science-related, so this was challenging stuff for me. It was obvious to me that I just did not have the background to comprehend how these items im­pacted my condition.

Probably all of us who have been diagnosed with multiple myeloma Googled the term “multiple myeloma” when we were informed of our diagnosis.

I did so for the first time since being diagnosed while writing this column. I currently limit my online reading about multiple myeloma to sites listed on The Beacon. I will continue to do so because what I found while randomly perusing different sites for over an hour is that many sites are anecdotal in nature, outdated, and overly subjective – bordering on demagoguery to push an agenda. We need to be mindful that not everything on the Internet is valid, accurate information.

After going through all of this, I realized that the amount of information that is made available through these tests and the Internet is overwhelming to me.

I strongly believe that those of us afflicted with this disease need to take ownership of our individual treatment regimens and that such ownership is only possible through knowledge of the disease and our individual con­di­tion.

Having said that, I can’t help but wonder if instant access to all of this data, as well as the acquisition of in­for­mation available on the Internet, is beneficial, or if in many cases it causes undue alarm.

At my latest check-up, I expressed my concerns about my previous test results to my doctor. He agreed that there is a tremendous amount of information provided to patients. He hinted that often more is provided than is actually needed for a layman such as myself to comprehend or be concerned with. He wrapped up our conversation saying that he would share good news with me, but that he would also share the bad news when needed. He added that I need not be consumed with interpreting the details of each of the 51 pieces of data provided to me.

Those were welcome words to me.

Fortunately, my June test results showed that the number of items flagged as too high or too low dropped to just four. In addition, the steady increase in the free light chain numbers had actually changed course and dropped.

However, what pleased me more than anything about these test results was the fact that the Monoclonal Protein Immuno Test showed for the fourth consecutive test since my transplant that there was no mono­clon­al protein (M-spike) present.

The popular saying of “not being able to see the forest for the trees” comes to mind and perfectly describes my mindset since making a New Year’s Resolution to become more knowledgeable about multiple myeloma. I had become so focused on details (which I didn’t understand) that I lost sight of the overall situation. My overall situation is good, and as Pat Killingsworth so artfully stated in his latest column ^[1], I had forgotten to be joyful.

This expression can also be reversed – a person can lose sight of important details by being too engrossed in the whole. I’ll trust that my doctor will let me know when it is time to worry about the details.

Until then, I will concern myself with the two tests that I understand and that I think most succinctly describe my condition; namely, the Monoclonal Protein Immuno, Serum Test and the Immunoglobulin Free Light Chain Test.

Using another idiomatic expression, RBC distribution, monocytes, eosinophils, lymphs, EOS absolute, platelet count, and mean platelet volume in my world have now become the “small stuff.”

At the risk of appearing to bury my head in the sand, as I begin the second year of life after my autologous stem cell transplant, I’m not going to sweat the small stuff!