Beating Multiple Myeloma

Beating the death sentence from Multiple Myeloma Cancer

Before a couple of years ago, when someone was diagnosed with having multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, they were basically given a death sentence that would happen within two years at the outside.

I'm here to tell you that it can be beat!

I have had first-hand experience watching my brother receiving that diagnosis in February of 2008....three years ago this month. I want to give some encouragement to anyone who has been diagnosed with this deadly cancer of the plasma cells. Some of the symptoms associated with this cancer include:

Bleeding problems - Bone or back pain (most often in the ribs or back) - Fevers without any other cause -increased susceptibility to infection - Symptoms of anemia (such as tiredness, shortness of breath, and fatigue) - Unexplained fractures - Weakness of the arms or legs

My brother fell off a ladder and landed on his back, so he noticed tremendous back pain. He thought he could shake it off, but after a few weeks, he was convinced to visit his primary care physician. He recommended that my brother see a specialist...Dr. Stephen Mayer - who practices oncology and internal medicine in Brockton, Massachusetts.

I wanted to give this doctor's name because he saved my brother's life...and surprised himself in the process.

A new medication - Revlimid, was recommended as the proper treatment in my brother's case. It was new, FDA approved in 2005.

Here is what Mayo Clinic is reporting as treatment (still) for multiple myeloma: "Chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant are the primary options." "Thalidomideis used along with dexamethasone to treat multiple myeloma in people who have been recently found to have this disease."

Dr. Mayer, however, recommended Revlimid...a seven-month treatment, and the cost of the pills for a month ran $6,800. Nobody can afford to pay $6,800 a month for medicine, but my brother was very fortunate because his insurance actually paid for most of it, and the maker of Revlimid helped out, too.

Now, I am not in the medical profession, but I can give this first-hand, eyewitness account of the ordeal.

My brother was severely ill from this disease and medication. One day, when I brought him to Dr. Mayer's office, he was so weak and sick that he knelt down in the bushes and threw up for what seemed forever. He could barely gather enough strength to get inside for the appointment, and this went on for a couple of months. At some point, I can't remember exactly when, my brother heard this from Dr. Mayer, "I don't generally say this, but you seem to be In remission."

That news seemed to be the mental boost that my brother needed to move him forward psychologically.

When they first met, the good doctor said, "You may get two months or two years, I have no way to know." That was three years ago...but, I have more good news. As time went on, my brother decided to work with the VA because he would not be able to afford a lot of the medications and treatments, and he is a Viet-Nam veteran.

The VA took him, and they wanted to prescribe the Thalidomide, but my brother told them how he was responding very well to the Revlimid.

The cost was a huge factor, but the VA finally said they would order the Revlimid, and let my brother finish the course with them.

As it turned out, my brother would decide to also get a bone marrow transplant in Nashville at the VA hospital there. It was tough, but he got through it just fine. When he first went for testing, his cancer cells were 50% of his bone marrow. Before the VA would do the transplant, they needed to see his counts at or below 20%, and when they finished the transplant, they hoped for a 5% cancer cell count - but my brother came away from the VA with zero cancer cells found in his bone marrow.

After his release from the hospital, my brother had to wear morphine patches called Fentanyl, and that treatment would manage the pain from the deterioration of the bones.

Over time, he went to the local VA for what they call Zometa...some sort of liquid treatment that somehow strengthens the damage done by the cancer to the bones. He began to slowly wean off the Fentanyl patches to where he doesn't use them anymore, and hasn't for about a year.

His appointments would be every couple of weeks, then months...and now, he doesn't have to return for major exams for a year. He still goes in for the Zometa treatments every three months. His bones still ache, and he can't gain weight, so it seems, but he spends ten to twelve hours a day during good weather to work around the house. He can do unbelievable lifting - but probably shouldn't.

So, life around the place seems like it always did now, and the death sentence that normally accompanies multiple myeloma has seemingly been lifted.

My brother was issued a death sentence in 1990 when he contracted throat cancer - from smoking, of course. He was told that he might make it to April of 1990. This is twenty-one years later, and he's still here...smiling and living life, so I just wanted to encourage anyone with cancer that the first thing you need to do is fight.

My brother never quit. He would always tough it out, and had the attitude that he could beat this disease - this killer called cancer, and has done so twice now.

We cannot discount prayer. Lots of prayers went up to heaven from his family, and from his own lips, and God must have heard them all because Verne...my brother, is still here today, and will hopefully still be here for many years to come.

There have been so many technical and medical breakthroughs is cancer research and medicines - especially the Revlimid treatments that were not available even a few years ago, so keep the faith...talk to your physicians, and don't give up.