Average rate is 9 years but I am at 17 years so would not worry about the average. Good luck.
We just met with our oncologist today, and he told us people are living 8, 9, 10 years past their diagnosis with treatment. You will see people on this website who are survivors of more than 15 years! Everyone is different and there are even different types of MM, but the advances in protocols in the past 10 years are extending people's lives considerably from what was expected back in 2008. There is ongoing research and new drugs getting approved all the time which will continue to push that life expectancy out even further. This is not a curable disease, but it is treatable and will enable a high quality of life for many years. If you are newly diagnosed, keep the faith. It's grim at first to be told you have MM, but with treatment and time things do improve.
I take Montelikast 3 days per month,Daratumumab IV once per month and Dexamethasone 1 day a month on maintenance. I was on Revlimis for a year and was fed up with being sick and tired all the time so I quit taking it and I was good for 3 years. As for the survival rate I am at 17 years and I know someare even longer. If it is not your time it is not your time. Live every day too the fullest.
You cannot go by prognosis with this cancer. They tell me that it hit 4 of my chromosomes, and one was a very poor prognosis. My ARNP said I had blown that data out of the water. According to the survival rate when it hits that one, I should already be gone. Your survival rate depends on your will to fight, determination, and when God says “child your work here is done.” So, do not read too much and get yourself upset over a bunch of data and numbers. Live for today, and thank God each morning when you open your eyes and you are still here! I understand your fears!
I totally agree with you Gayle. I tell my family to get a copy of their lab work and look at it, or let me look at it. They went back 10 years and saw where my protein and one time my calcium too was high. The doc said, did no one say anything to you? I said no they did not. They think I could have had for ten years before my present doc saw it. You have to be your own advocate sometimes. They are still researching if this is hereditary or not. But, one statistic I read was if someone in your family has it, you are at least twice as likely to have. I talked to a nurse one time and she said 4 different people in her family had it. Now I am not none too smart, lol, but I do not think that is a coincidence. Where I live it is becoming more common. We live where the gaseous diffusion plant is...USEC.