Me2

Cathy,
I am glad that you have stayed on this site. I have found it sometimes depressing(mostly because of how horrible cancer is) but 95% of the time enlightening and full of good information. I live in a rural area of NC and don't have close access to a MM group so this is my substitute. I am so sorry your cousin has to go thru all that he has been thru. I have been under treatment for almost three years which has included chemo, back surgery and a stem cell transplant. Now almost two years after the SCT I am still on a maintenance dose of revlimid. My problem is it took so long to diagnose (drs treated me for muscle isuue with pain meds, muscle relaxers and physical therapy) that I ended up with five compression fractures in my spine not to mention lesions in other bones. I was very active working out 4 times a week at least, skiing, boating that without knowing I was hurting my bones just kept on! I finally retired in Dec and can relax more and lay on the couch to relax my back. But even with pain meds I am in constant pain. I do get zometa for my bones and see the oncologist once a month but never feel cancer free. Your cousin tho has it 100 times worse right now. I pray and hope that he stays strong and continues to fight this. Please continue to be his close support as every one needs someone to be their advocate. It is hard as a patient to take it all in, understand it and digest it. Besides my MM I have a heart issue and may require heart valve replacement sometime soon. I have 3 kids who are my support system(am divorced) but it's hard on them as their dad has pancreatic cancer and is doing chemo to stabilize it since it has not spread but can't be operated on. Why do some of us have to deal with so much???
Keep your faith and strength for your cousin and let him know everyone on this site prays for this treatment to be the one to work and get him to his SCT which I think is the greatest thing for those of us suffering from MM!! Please keep in touch!

Wow! Just found this site by accident and reading your story, I almost feel like I were writing my own. I'm currently in the hospital with my sister getting the vd pace regimen. She has mm since 2004. Did chemo and radiation and eventually a stem cell transplant. No remission but close to it for 2 years and then her numbers began to go up. She was on maint chemo when her shoulder began hurting. The mm dr said it was bursitis. For many months my sister suffered, did therapy, pain meds and nothing worked. By this time both shoulders were hurting. When they finally did an MRI they found lesions that had broken through the bone and wrapped around the muscle. By the time she started therapy, the right lesion finished breaking her bone and she needed surgery. I think that made this monster spread and now she has nodules all over her abdomen. One of them affected her bile ducts making it difficult for her to eat or do #2. Again she was told to take laxatives etc. finally went to ER and that's when they discovered the obstruction. Now they are doing salvage chemo which I thought was working until I saw her getting extremely loopy. Doctors don't know if it's the meds or the disease. I'm praying to God it's the meds and so now I'm searching the web for a glimmer of hope. I'm glad to hear your cousin is doing better. I wish you guys the best. I know firsthand it's not easy for either one of you.

Cathy, you are so kind yourself. That's great that he has some assistance with his insurance.....but when you can't work and there is limited income it doesn't hurt to keep reaching out for funds that might be available to help. I would still try to get help from the Leukimia Lymphoma Society too. Please keep me posted on how your cousin is doing. I fear for myself about that. I have been having significant shoulder pain, along with the 5 fractures in my back and kidney failure. I hope they can save his arm. Be blessed.

Hello and welcome, we are glad you found us. Please feel free to join in the conversations. Here is a link to our cancer dx page for your type of cancer. Take a look at it to get you started on some information. You will notice at the bottom of that page 4 of our active users who have had that journey already, you may wish to contact them for their experience and wisdom. Also, I encourage you to go to the questions page now by clicking on the questions tab at the top of the page and post what is the most pressing issue you have right now. This will introduce you to the community and get you started on the help you need right now.

https://www.whatnext.com/conditions/cancer/multiple-myeloma

There are also subtypes listed on this page to narrow down the type of cancer to match your dx.

Also, if you can take a few minutes and fill in some details of your journey so far, it will help others as they try to answer questions for you, it also helps others as they search through the data base to find someone like themselves. Confirming your email will allow you to receive updates and notices from the site when someone answers your questions or writes on your wall.

Thanks for being with us and let me know if I can help you find any information on the site. After you have an opportunity to look the site over and see what great things there are here, we encourage you to invite your friends, family or anyone you know that may be helped by the connections on WhatNext to join the site also. Just click this link to invite them to join. http://www.whatnext.com/recruit-a-friend

Follow Us on Twitter Click Here =>http://bit.ly/XExkce
Find Us on Facebook Click Here =>http://on.fb.me/zjBAPl
Our Pinterest Page with Resources=>http://bit.ly/12qVtEs
Our Help Page with instructions for the site->http://bit.ly/1aR5165
GregP 3X Survivor
Team WhatNext Community Mgr

Welcome to the WhatNext family! The WhatNext family is made up of people like you who are looking for help or looking to help others. To help you along your journey the WhatNext family has put together a Beginner's Guide to Cancer that I highly recommend you check-out here: http://bit.ly/10BQKCi. Also, please do not hesitate to reach out to others or ask for help.

Wishing you the best.

David
Founder, WhatNexter