Virginia – Myeloma Action Month

Brenda J. – Henrico, VA

I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in March 2012. I started treatment in Richmond at Virginia
Cancer Institute . I have now been under treatment for 3 years. Last September, I had an episode and
ended up going to MD Anderson Cancer Center . I got there on September 30th, 2014 and they
immediately put me in the ER. They kept me overnight in the ER and then the next day put my in the
Lymphoma /Myeloma Cancer Center. I was treated aggressively for 3 weeks and then moved to a Nursing
home for rehab. I ended up staying in Houston for 4 months. I have now come back to Richmond, VA and
are continuing the treatments here. I am due to go back to Anderson on the 17th of February for a
checkup. Hopefully, we will return home on the 23rd of February. I am doing well now and hopefully
will be a candidate for a stem cell transplant soon. MD Anderson is the best hospital for Cancer and
they are trying to strike Cancer out of our vocabulary. Hopefully, this short version of my story
will help someone else.

– Brenda

Patricia H. – Troy, VA

In November 2006 some results discovered in routine blood work by my primary care physician caused that physician to refer me to an oncologist for further testing/diagnosis. After meeting with the oncologist, additional lab work and a bone marrow biopsy were performed. These results led to a diagnosis of pre-malignant multiple myeloma. Since then I remain under the amazing care of a capable oncologist at the University of Virginia’s Cancer Center.

Every six months lab work is repeated as a routine part of a follow-up examination with my oncologist. When I received the original referral, I almost didn’t make the appointment with the oncologist as I previously ovarian/cervical cancer in 1985 (hysterectomy/ovaries removed) in 1985 and believed my good fortune since that time had been taken away. Fear is a very powerful thing, and while I ‘almost’ let it paralyze me, the more I read online and the more I talked to others, I knew I had to get past the fear and make that appointment.

Now I look forward to those appointments and lab results, they are the markers in my life that give me hope and strength and joy in going forward with everyday life. As of this writing I remain pre-malignant. Medication/treatment have not been recommended yet.

Please if you are reading this and even ‘think’ you might need to seek opinions/testing/help with understanding and living with any state of MM, take some action, take control of your life, be your own advocate. I learn something each and every day about this disease and I am no longer frightened, quite the opposite, the more I know and understand the more empowered I feel. Something else to remember is that you are not alone in this. There are people like me who wake up and go to bed each day praying for all those facing MM.

— Patricia H.