It has been one year ago today that I sat down with my oncologist and he confirmed that I had MM. It has been an up and down year for me. From worrying about the future to hoping I had a future and now learning to live with MM day to day.
So let's take a moment and review this last year:
Good news: I feel great and my life is going well. I have a great family and a strong support group.
Bad news: My legs have good days and bad days. Some days they burn, are weak and hurt and other days they are just a little numb. On really bad days I walk funny and that drives me crazy. I guess it embarrasses me and I don't do embarrassment well. I have noticed my voice gets weak just before my "bad" days and returns to normal on good days, strange right??? My medication takes care of most of it.
Good news: The medication allows me to exercise as much as I want. My bicycle riding is up to 100 miles per week and I'm comfortable with that. I enjoy the riding and it helps me keep my weight in check.
Good news: I have a job and it is paying well. I'm learning how to do the job more and more every day. There are 2 local employees who are very supportive and willing to help when I need it. I feel comfortable with handling my customers and most of them are very nice. I will have benefits starting December 1st.
Bad news: I have to wait for a year before the MM will be covered.
Good news: I don't see me going to the next MM level, Stage 2 or 3, anytime soon. I could be wrong about that but so far things are going well. No new symptoms have cropped up and the one I have is well managed.
Bad news: My blood work still shows my M-spike at around 2.0 and my white cells are low. My IGG hovers around 2200 - 2400 (should be a max of 1700). My IGA & IGM are both way low. My free light Kappa's are high. MM people will know what all that means. For the non-MM people it just means that my MM is there and doing what it does.
Good news: Because of the weight loss (over 35lbs so far) and exercise, my cancer numbers were down on July 1st. My oncologist thinks that if I can maintain my weight loss and exercise program I can keep the cancer numbers in check for a long time.
So it was an interesting year. Some ups and some downs. I go and get my cancer numbers again on November 1st and see my oncologist mid-November. I'm excited and a little nervous to see the numbers are but I guess I always will be. My goal is to follow my oncologist's plan and hopefully keep the numbers in check W/O chemo. I know that probably won't last forever, but I will take what I can get. I feel good and I know that God is in charge of all this.
The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...
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8 years ago
Wishing you every good luck with your November blood results and congratulations on your first completed year and here's to many many more. Stay well, all best wishes from us here in the UK
ReplyDeleteSusie and Hamada,
Dear Steven,
ReplyDeleteHello from Aberdeen, Scotland! I saw your comment on Roobeedoo's post and that you're from near Redding. I don't know if you'd be interested, but I've put some photos on my blog of my grandparents, great-grandmother, and other relations, in Ingot, Shasta County from about a hundred years ago. My great-grandmother kept diaries when she homesteaded in Igo, amongst other places in Northern California, in the 1920s. I've posted a couple of excerpts from them - all this on pages under "May's Diaries".
I wish you all the best in your "walk" (and in your cycling around!). I know very little about MM, but I believe there's a lot of power in staying focused on the soul rather than the body. I also believe we are never alone.