Life's Journey with Multiple Myeloma

Firstly we wanted to thank you all for all your supportive and encouraging messages after the fabulous PET scan results we got in July – we were inundated with feedback. Thank you so much! So, here we are in hot, hot, hot August. We had a wonderful time in beautiful Costa Rica with our friends. [...]

With that title, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that this post is packed with good news! So here’s a quick snapsnot of what happened after Alpesh’s tests in June. The MRI came back indicating that there was some kind of growth in the coccyx area. If you remember, that was the [...]

The reason for the delay in writing this latest post is because Sima insisted that I wrote it this time. She said that you all wanted to hear from the “patient” and since the patient is a very busy man, it has taken me this long to finally put this together! Of course now I [...]

Can you believe it? It’s exactly one year from THAT day. The day that changed our lives, the day when we were thrown into a world that we didn’t even know existed(!) – the unfortunate world of Myeloma. It’s certainly been a long journey and it’s not over yet but we’ve definitely learned a great [...]

We went to see Dr Z last week and he confirmed that with all the results we have had so far i.e. no M spike in last few blood reports, no monoclonal cells in both the bone marrow and sacrum biopsies, Alpesh is officially in complete remission (CR). Of course, for how long, no-one knows [...]

The results came in and … GREAT NEWS! The sacral mass came back negative, no suppuration or neoplasm was found. We are so relieved! We meet with Dr Z next week to discuss next steps in terms of treatment. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy this marvelous piece of news. Thanks for all your prayers. [by [...]

After traveling to New York, then London, Alpesh is back in New York this week. He’s feeling great, still full of energy and hasn’t lost his sense of humor even when the going gets tough. He has a few other trips lined up for the month of August, one of them includes me and children [...]

Well we needed some so we are pleased to share it – the pathology report came back and the nodule in the left thyroid was benign! Thank goodness we only removed the one side and did not follow through with standard procedure which would have been to remove the whole thyroid! Nevertheless, we would have [...]

Dear Family & Friends, Firstly a big thank you to you all for being there during this journey. Your words of encouragement, wisdom, advice, prayers, positive energy and good wishes have been the backbone to our strength throughout. With that in mind, I have some unfortunate news to share. In his Almighty wisdom, upstairs has [...]

I got a call from Dr Z yesterday regarding the results of my blood tests taken last week.  The results are very positive,  my M-Spike, one of the key markers that are monitored for Myeloma is down by 75% (from 2.07 to 0.5) after one complete chemo cycle.  The question now is can I reduce [...]

At 6am this morning, the home phone rang, then my cellphone, then the home phone again .. it was relentless!!  The bells, the bells J   Sima and I were fast asleep since the boys were off school this week (Thanksgiving) and hence no early start.  Finally we answered the phone and it was Sima’s parents [...]

I got a call from the transplant doctor today giving me the results of the DNA tests for both my brother and sister (Hiten and Sangeeta).  They were tested to see if they could be potential bone marrow donors for me in the future in case I need a transplant.    There are two type [...]

A cytogenetic test was conducted on Alpesh’s biopsy sample, looking for any abnormalities in the genes.  A defective chromosome 13 (missing or partly missing) has been found in many myeloma patients and is linked with a poor prognostic outlook.  What to hear something strange?  The results show a deletion in the long arm (q) of [...]

Woke up early and drove the rest of the way to Atlanta.  Appointment at Emory is for 1pm.  My manager, Lee, lives in Atlanta and has kindly suggested meeting up for lunch before we go to Emory.  Thanks Lee for a nice lunch and your words of encouragement and support!  We got to Emory around [...]

We have two appointments today to meet with another oncologist for a second opinion and the other appointment is to meet with the transplant doctor.  The first appointment at MD Anderson is disappointing – no warm and fuzzy doctor unfortunately – just hard facts and doom and gloom.  Not a great feeling when we left [...]