Brief History

This is a very minimal information timeline. It is from my memory so everything isn't perfect. I haven't listed any lab numbers, for example because it would take longer for me to explain them than to know this...high numbers= bad; low numbers = good (what you or I would have).




June 2009: Mom notices some rib pain and sternal discomfort to the point she is needing pain medication. Since she has just had reconstructive surgery in that region of her body we all attributed the pain to post surgical pain. At this time Mom also has an incident with swallowing her osteoporosis medication and decides with doctor's approval to discontinue using it.

September 2009: Mom is finally able to get one of her doctor's to preform an x-ray of her chest region. We are told it is negative. Then by chance another radiologist takes a look at Mom's xray and he says the 'spots' on the bones of her upper arms are indicative of Multiple Myeloma (MM). At this point it is recommended that Mom see an oncologist to rule this out.
Towards the end of September it is confirmed...Multiple Myeloma!

(what is that?...see link on the right side of blog)...

October 2009: Mom is started on Revlimid which is a medication that makes the environment poor so that the cancer cells no longer want to reproduce. She is also started on steroids at this time. Mom also has a bone marrow aspiration. At this point Mom's lab numbers are not within normal range for the average person. They are higher than should be (but not the highest the doctor's have ever see before...).
Presently, the doctors are in the process of switching out staging scales for MM. So, according to the old staging system Mom is a Stage III but according to the new staging system Mom is a Stage I. This means we caught it early and we are ecstatic!

From November 2009 till November 2010: Mom's number continue to drop to the point where she is in complete remission. It is recommended that Mom go ahead with a Stem cell Transplant. The idea being that since her blood is as 'cancer free' as it can be we remove her stem cells and store them.

March 2011: Mom has her double lumen PICC line placed and her perma-port placed. Stem cells are removed so that they may re-infuse them after Mom receives chemo to kill all the 'hiding' cancer cells in Mom's body. This way her system will be as cancer free as possible to put the stem cells back in. Yes, there will still be cancer cells in her stem cells, studies show that cleaning the stem cells is too risky because you can kill the good stem cells as well. This is not a cure but hopefully she will stay in a complete remission for a few years.
When her numbers begin to rise again she can possibly have another stem cell transplant or re-start her medications (Revlimid).


Some questions? you can email them here and I can post the answers...if I have them!