In November I started having pain in my arm, just above the shoulder joint and extending down my arm. Through a quick string of miracles, the doctor shortly discovered a tumor filling in that whole area that had eaten away the bone and grown in the space so much that it was breaking through the surface of
the bone. That was the source of the pain. The bone continued to fracture over the next month as the tumor grew, so it was an interesting holiday season.
To add insult to injury, just 7 hours before the surgery, I fell and broke that thin crust of bone. I had surgery to remove the tumor on Jan 10, where they removed the tumor, filled the cavity with bone cement and put everything back together with plates and screws. They did a biopsy to see if the tumor it was benign or malignant.
On Jan 17 we got the news that I have Multiple Myeloma, which is a blood cancer that settles mostly in the bones, but because it’s a blood cancer, will eventually spread to organs, as well. I am going through all the staging and risk assessment tests – (only 1 left now-Yeah!) and will have the appointment with the oncologist on Feb 22 to talk about that and the treatment plan. We have had 28 doctor appointments or tests since Nov 21, when they discovered the tumor. It’s getting pretty old.
Bill is still driving me everywhere because I’m still on pain pills, so he and I get to spend a lot of time together driving to tests and dr. appointments. Hopefully that will slow down a bit, but I really don’t know what it will look like once the treatments begin.
The treatments will consist of chemotherapy (the new name for that is induction therapy, and it is supposed to be much better tolerated than it used to be), then hopefully a stem cell transplant. That is my best hope for going into remission and buying myself years.
Besides healing from the tumor removal surgery, I’m starting to have quite a bit of bone pain, as they have found several other spots (hence the “multiple” in Multiple Myeloma) that the cancer is starting to destroy bone. It’s supposed to improve once I start therapy, as that will kill the cancer cells and stop the destruction of bone.
My spirits are up most of the time. The relentless pain makes me a bit emotionally brittle some days, but for the most part, I feel blessed and happy and good about life. I have a long, unknown journey ahead of
me, but life as I know it is beautiful. Bill and Jeremy take really good care of me, my family is intact and supportive, and I have loving friends who strengthen me. I have the Gospel to look to for hope and
healing and the enabling power of the Atonement to get me through. I feel God’s love and trust His will and timing.