Shitty news

[garnigal]

My mom has been in hospital for a week. She's been sick for weeks, but thought it was just related to a vertigo syndrome she has. Finally was losing too much weight and not drinking enough, so Dad took her up and they kept her, waiting for a free bed in our major hospital to do some pretty aggressive testing.

Got the diagnosis yesterday - multiple myelomoa, which is cancer of the plasma cells. She starts treatment as soon as possible, and that treatment may include everything from chemo to stem cell therapy to a bone marrow transplant.

It's treatable, but incurable. 49% of people hit the 5 year survival marker, but most of those are diagnosed early. For Mom's stage (I'm guessing based on her symptoms), the average life span after diagnosis is 29 months.

Hopefully she is well above average.

Comments

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear this. She and your family will be in my thoughts *hugs*

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. I'm so sorry. That is shitty news. Hoping along with you that she is well above-average.

[teragramm.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear this. Sending good thoughts your mom's way.

[rahirah]

I'm so sorry to hear that. Best wishes for your Mom and for you.

FOAF

[executrix.livejournal.com]

This is a "friend of a friend" report, not direct, but my friend's ex-husband, who is otherwise not in great shape, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and quickly went into complete remission after chemo.

Of course cancer is never good news, but there do seem to be multiple lines of effective treatment for MM.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

*Tight hugs* I'm so very sorry for the hard news. I hope she is well above that mark as well.

[1-rhiannon-1.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear this! My thoughts to you and your family <3

[zhelana.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

So sorry - that really sucks.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

That’s scary. Praying for you and your family, especially your mom!

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I am rooting for her with all my might. *hugs you hard*


Gabrielle

[desdemonaspace]

Oh, honey! Shitty news indeed. I hope your mom is in the 'well above average' group.

You know, I'm a cancer survivor myself. I'm here to tell ya, it can go MUCH better than what you fear.

[jerusha]

I hope she is well above average and proves every average wrong! *hugs*

Re: FOAF

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

She went to pick up meds tonight, and the volunteer at the checkin desk saw her forms and said "Myeloma?" They confirmed and he grinned. He was diagnosed 14 years ago, and is getting a second stem cell transplant sometime this year. So that gave us all some hope. We just hope she responds to treatment as well as he did.

She's home now, which is good. Hopefully she'll be able to do her injections locally (the tiny hospital in our town of 2900 is a regional cancer center. The hospital network is tricking the gov't into keeping all the small town hospitals open by making each one a 'specialty center'. Very clever!)

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Even the hematologist is talking about a 15 year treatment plan, so I may have jumped the gun. Google is not always your friend.

I know it's going to be a miserable road navigating treatment, but hopefully she responds well.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It functions somewhat like an autoimmune disorder, since it's cancer of the plasma cells. The big symptom that sent her to hospital in the first place was low kidney function. Apparently the abnormal bone marrow creates abnormal blood cells, which in turn creates abnormal antibodies which then attack the kidneys. Very interesting from a scientific perspective, much less so from a personal perspective.

It means we'll have to be super careful about our own germs, which should be fun with 4 little girls 10 and under.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm starting to adjust. More thinking about what she needs, less about what I have to lose.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thanks. She's always been an overachiever :)

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thanks

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

Thanks

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I am praying for you and your family.


Gabrielle

Re: FOAF

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Okay, that hospital network is AWESOME! So glad that your local one is the cancer center.


Gabrielle

Re: FOAF

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Doctors spend a large part of every visit playing with their electronic devices anyway, which means that every Local MD can be on the line consulting Hotshot Fancy Superspecialist, who will have access to all of the patient's records.

Not the same kind of cancer, but Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been posting recently that when she was diagnosed, a Republican Senator said that she was obviously not long for this world, and good riddance. That was five years ago, and meanwhile the senator has died of a stroke.

Re: FOAF

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

It certainly comes in handy given the family history on mom's side.

Re: FOAF

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

RBG is an unstoppable force and an immovable object, all in one.

I used to work for a healthcare software company. Our software allowed medical images to be stored, compressed, moved around - all without any loss of image quality on uncompression. There are lots of companies that do the same thing, but just having the ability within the hospital network is a hell of a game changer.

[desdemonaspace]

I feel for you. She's so lucky to have you.

I navigated the shoals myself, and it was not fun.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

oh no, I am so sorry. I hope the treatments go well. Don't forget to take care of yourself too, this will be a trying time for everyone, I am sure. **HUGS**

[badfalcon.livejournal.com]

Oh hell, I'm so sorry to hear that. Fingers crossed for the treatment and being above average *hugs*

[saratinia.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear this news, the stories you tell of your family tell me she is tough and will give the good fight.