I do not have much to add other than good luck.

Think it would be over the line to let Jewel Staite know you have cancer and your dying wish is to see her eat a strawberry in person?

Jesus, you got a battle ahead of you. Hang in there - it's tough having to be lethargic all the time. The internet is your friend - keep your mind stimulated while you let your body rest. Good luck.

I'm on it...called my old agent and told her I needed Jewel Staite's number STAT.

...The avatar will have to do for now, I'm afraid.

I have full confidence in Merek's eventual victory over this.

Good luck.

A guy I trained with had a bone marrow transplant for Multiple Myeloma three
years ago - he's doing great, feels great, looks great.

Hang in there.

MM MD

Is this strictly a white blod cell problem (which white blood cell?), or is it related to osteo-blasts/clasts/cytes as well?

I hope you are not kidding. Because if you are I am not. It's easy to meet Jewel. She attends basically every Sci-fi convention and loves to talk to people. Even if you can't find her outside the conferences we could go up to the microphone during a Q&A and tell her the situation. No way with her fans waiting for her decision that she will say no!

Very interesting thread, and well written. I'll be praying for you.

gl merek.
keep us updated, and hope 2p2 provides some comic relief.

merek-
My mom was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002.She is about to celebrate her 73rd birthday, and was declared cancer-free in 2005. She had the stem-cell transplant/treatment you described.

She is a very spiritual woman, and you can take from that what you will. You may or may not be. Spiritual, I mean. Not a woman. Unless, you know, you want to be one. That will require further surgery. And I'll support you then, too. But that does not matter right now. What is of utmost ****ing importance (if I may quote Christopher Walken from "True Romance") is to maintain the positive mindset you have shown here, and keep in mind that the things they can do for you now, that they would not have been able to do even a decade ago, are nothing short of astounding, and you are going to be given the weapons to kick this thing squarely in balls, and leave it shriveled and groveling while you go on, eventually dying from a gunshot wound, killed at the age of 134 by a jealous husband.

Seriously, the survival rates from multiple myeloma have climbed due to this process. When my mom was diagnosed, I did some research, and it was somewhat less than heartening. But the strides that have been made are ridiculously encouraging.

You are going to be fine. Consider prayers and good vibes sent.

strictly related to Plasma Cells. bone damage results from osteoclasts being overactivated by the plasma cells.

This to both. I could have picked any number of other posters, but I think Fish wrote closest to what I would have done, but with less grammatical errors. As for Busto, it's great example of keeping a good attitude about things and get some other good things out of the situation.

This is really interesting, Merek. I didn't realize that donor marrow was not used as much any more. I thought that all marrow transplants were from donors! That's really cool that you can harvest your own stem cells.

What kind of drug are they giving you to make your stem cells leave the marrow?


You are funny.

So remind me how this works. These are blood stem cells that eventually hook up with a bone that they like and then they start producing blood? How do the blood stem cells get back into the bone? Or maybe they don't need to get back in the bone? I'm confused Sorry to ask such dumb questions . I just don't understand stem cells very well.

So for a couple of weeks you will be anemic and feeling run down?

How far away is the cancer center from where you live?

Thanks Kudz - the support has been great.
Hope your mom spends the next 40 years breaking hearts and kicking your ass when required.
---
Survival Rates - Cancer survival rates are always a bit of a statistical bull**** story as we are not all the same and the tech is ever changing.

When I first came back from getting the cancer word, I looked up Multilple Myeloma on the internet.......and had to sit down. The end of the first paragraph in Wikipidia said "50-55 months" fffffffff

BUT - First you learn many people diagnosed...don't get treatment. Myeloma usually shows up around 65 plus and saddly, many elderly are not healthy enough to take the treatments which are chemo and nasty drugs. If you can't take the treatment.....1-3 years.

But like Kudz said, I am lucky.
1990 - 3 year survival rate is 10%
2006 - 3 year survival rate is 90%.

Being slow, lazy and procrastinating about things saves me again. Yeah Ha.

I'll join in wishing the OP the best of luck.

By the way, this reminds me of the part of American Splendor, recounting Harvey Pekar's struggle with cancer, which he made into a graphic novel Our Cancer Year.

I wonder if it would be comforting to read that book?