Hi All
Wasn’t sure how to post my first post but here goes. Im a 51yr old married farther of 3 and have been diagnosed in May with SMM, my diagnosis unlike a lot of others was very quick only 4 to 5 weeks !
I went to see my GP about a nagging backache. my GP took a look at my back and said “haven’t seen you for a while would like to enter you into a well man clinic” they took some blood and done some blood pressure readings and a few other bits and bobs said come back in a week.
When i went back the following week Doctor, who to be fair was reading the notes from her screen and rambled on about a protein in my blood and a condition called “MUGS” and its nothing to worry about and loads of people have it but I will need to refer you to a haematologist to do more tests!
To be fair the doctor might have said MGUS but at the time I went home and told my wife the Doctor has said I’ve got a thing called MUGS. As you can imagine my search for a medical condition called MUGS wasn’t very fruitfull until I put the word blood in the search and then to my surprise the Macmillan page on MGUS came up. had a read and was slightly more concerned but tried to look at the positives saying “well it a lot of people have this and the majority of people just go for regular checks” etc
within a week my appointment to see the Haematologist came through so off i went where she booked me in for a bone marrow biopsy and skeletal survey which was within a couple of days.
It was when I had the bone marrow biopsy and survey that I think the seriousness of Mgus really dawned on me, I remember thinking this seems pretty serious for a condition that has no symptoms. even at this stage I had seen the links to Myeloma but it hadn’t even crossed my mind.
I then had a 2 week wait for the results of the tests to come through, quiet an anxious time, one day I was convinced i had MGUS next day I would think “Oh its a blip or something they have made a mistake on it will be fine”
My appointment for the test results was in the afternoon, which I must admit made that day one of the longest ever, My wife came with me just to be sure I didn’t forget something and Jackie had more questions than me really.
When we sat down with the consultant she was very pleasant and then told me that unfortunately the test results on the bone marrow had come back positive but were beyond the condition of MGUS and was inline with Asymptomatic Myeloma.
I know this may sound strange but following the diagnosis and seeing some of the posts on the forums I feel quiet fortunate really as it has been diagnosed really early and hopefully treatment is a while away. The one thing I have noticed is that every little ache or pain takes on a new meaning now, I try not to worry too much but you just can’t help yourself at times.
The most anxious time is when I have to go back for a check blood test. ( Ive only had one following my initial diagnosis)
I hope I haven’t bored you all too much
Take care and keep well
Barry
