Visited my blood-cancer doctor today. He told me a recent blood test showed my myeloma may not be as advanced as previously thought. It’s still there and still bad, but rather than being in the third stage, the doctor thinks I might be borderline between stage two and three -- which is a good thing. He offered me the choice of delaying treatment to wait and see how the disease progressed. I told him that, while I don’t want to be “aggressive” in my treatment, I do want to be “pro-active” and see if we can control it even if it isn’t so far developed. He said that was exactly what he would recommend. So now, it could be only a few months chemo (rather than the original plan of four or five months), remission, followed by waiting to see how well I continue to do rather than just going for the stem-cell transplant.25 February 2016
Cancer Update
Visited my blood-cancer doctor today. He told me a recent blood test showed my myeloma may not be as advanced as previously thought. It’s still there and still bad, but rather than being in the third stage, the doctor thinks I might be borderline between stage two and three -- which is a good thing. He offered me the choice of delaying treatment to wait and see how the disease progressed. I told him that, while I don’t want to be “aggressive” in my treatment, I do want to be “pro-active” and see if we can control it even if it isn’t so far developed. He said that was exactly what he would recommend. So now, it could be only a few months chemo (rather than the original plan of four or five months), remission, followed by waiting to see how well I continue to do rather than just going for the stem-cell transplant.
19 February 2016
Cancer Update Number Three
Met with the blood-cancer doctor Thursday. It’s multiple myeloma -- the worst of the three stages, but still not as bad as amyloidosis. So, there’s that. One of the more interesting things I learned was that I might have had myeloma for years, festering away undetected under the surface. That could explain a lot about my health in the past few years.I’ve got several months of chemo ahead of me (starting in a couple weeks) in the hopes that I will be zapped into remission. If that happens, then it’s off to the hospital for a stem-cell transplant. The doctor says there’s no cure, but the transplant could offer complete remission. Isn’t that the same thing? If everything goes well, I’m likely to have five more good years -- possibly ten, given advances in treatment. So, fasten your seatbelts, boys and girls. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
18 February 2016
11 February 2016
Cancer Update Number Two
Yeah for me! It looks like I have the not-so-bad cancer called myeloma. Meet with the doctor next week for confirmation, but the bone-marrow-biopsy results seem pretty conclusive. Not sure yet what that means in re treatment or whatever. Have to wait another week for that news.
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