Many of our members have asked how I was doing so I thought it was time to provide an update.

A quick review. I was having very painful time with back muscle cramps and had a fall which resulted in 3 compression fractures.  While dealing with that I saw my PCP who identified that I was having a critical calcium event.  My calcium was very high and that can cause a lot of damage to heart and kidneys besides potentially being fatal.  A rush to the ER led to admittance to the hospital where, during the treatment of my calcium problem, they diagnosed me as having multiple myeloma stage 3 (the highest stage) and immediately put me on a chemo program. 

Long story short, I was very fortunate.  I suffered no organ damage from the calcium event.  Lots of tests and lots of drugs later, I'm happy to report that my cancer is in remission and I'm going to be in a maintenance program from now on. Myeloma typically relapses at some point so more chemo in my future but there is lots of research on new therapies so I'm optimistic.

I'll write about some of my observations from the experience, but one important point is worth mentioning here.  As a cirrhosis patient, I was at very high risk with the cancer.  Could I tolerate the basket of drugs they would give me to control the cancer without going into liver failure?  I'm pleased to report that due to treating my liver kindly since diagnosis  in 2015, I had no liver related difficulty with the chemical stew they gave me.

For those who aren't familiar with my journey, my liver stiffness at diagnosis was 21.5.  Over time I had improved that to 9.6, a stage 2. Had I not done that I probably wouldn't be here today. For liver patients the importance of diet and exercise can't be overstated.

My thanks to all who expressed their concern for my situation. I'll be offering my perspectives from this experience in the blog from time to time so stay tuned.