Hello Mad, Sally Richter Allen is totally correct in what she has said. It is important to rely on your doctor to detect changes in your blood work and myeloma. I am finding that with spring coming here where I live, I am more active in doing work around the house and in the yard. I am having more pain from lifting and doing work. I am aware that I need to get more physically fit so I am going back to the physical therapy as it seems to help me get my back, ribs and connecting muscles in better shape. I hope that you are feeling better and not as stressed out about the myeloma. Think positive and stay strong. Best wishes. 👨‍✈️

Never feel like your questions are unimportant. If they are important to you, they are important to us. We are here to help and listen to each other, to share and draw knowledge of this cancer and our experiences with it. Each person holds great value on this team. I am personally thankful for each and everyone of you.

Hi Mad Please don't get offended for asking a question we are human and going thru with this disease that is confusing and it does make us wonder what is going on when all of these ailments began to flare up. We look to our friends that might have more knowledge in the MM Group that we can rely on. This Group is the Best! They have so much Love to share.

It’s really important to be in touch with your body to know when things are wrong. But with MM, you can drive yourself crazy thinking that every twinge or pain is something terrible. The thing doctors rely on first is your lab work. If your blood test results show that your numbers are steady, then they are not going to worry. If things look like they’re going in the wrong direction, they will likely order more tests. My doctor sits with me each month and shows the test results on his computer and I can see that the numbers are somewhat the same from month to month. Then we talk about any concerns I might have - like any weird pains or issues. If it’s something related to MM, we talk about it. If he thinks it’s something else, he might refer me to my primary care doctor or a specialist. Recently I had to see a urologist, and the problem was not related to MM thankfully, and it got resolved.

Now for your pain. As I recall, you haven’t had MM for very long, right? I remember when I was in the days after my stem cell transplant, I felt pretty awful. I had overwhelming fatigue and it seemed like I had pain everywhere. The most awful pain was on my skin! It sounds so weird, but my skin hurt. It hurt to wear clothes. I had to find the softest most loose clothing I could find. No one knew what was causing this. I felt like I was crazy. Since all the doctors ruled out anything serious, they weren’t worried. But I still had to live with the pain. The reason I’m telling you this is to help you understand that every MM patient is different. Your doctor is the one who can tell you that any pain you have is because of the MM. if not, then you are left to deal with it. That’s where this group comes in. We can help you by listening and being sympathetic and supportive. We can tell you what worked for us if we had the same thing. What we can’t tell you is if the pain you’re having is because of the MM.

You are as important as every other person in this group. We’re here to support you and listen when you’re having a bad day. I don’t know why you are having back pain, so I can’t help you with that. But if your labs are looking good, it’s not MM and it’s not a new cancer. So relax, breathe through it, and hope for the best! Sometimes that’s all we can do.
Hugs!!!

I rely on lab results to let me know.