I am a 73 year old male who was diagnosed in April of 2008 with MM. My Drs. had been monitoring my protein levels for several years and when my IGG reached 1570 it was decided that I should receive chemo. I took rev/dex/coum for 4 months and my IGG dropped to 665. I have never had any symptoms of any kind and even during chemo was somewhat able to continue my sports (tennis, etc.) activities. I am currently, supposedly, in remission, even though my IGG is going back up rapidly.
After consulting with Stanford University my Dr. felt that I should not have a cell stem transplant, even though I was a candidate.
I have two questions:
My Dr. feels if the situacion gets worse I should go the chemo route again?
My only side effect has been that I have weeks during which I am extremely fatigued and don't feel like doing anything (even during remission). Is that normal? Is there anything I can do to address this problem?
Thanks for any suggestions
We would suggest that if you are a candidate for a stem cell transplant, you go that route because treatment involving a transplant is often more effective and will very likely yield better results in the long run.
As for your extreme fatigue, were you very anemic while you were on treatment? If so, that would explain your fatigue and you can take steps to manage the anemia.
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
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Huntsman Cancer Institute Myeloma Program
