[kellykelParticipant]

I’m new so I hope I have done this right and it makes sense!

We lost my Nan (who was really a Mum to me) in April. We had never heard of Myeloma until April, but we lost her less than 2 weeks after diagnosis. In hindsight we can see that this outcome had been coming for a while, she had not been herself for months, she actually kept saying ‘I just feel like something isn’t right’. Unfortunately (and with no disrespect to the medical profession) I feel that they overlooked it. She was sent for blood tests and kept being told she was anaemic and given iron. She also had a couple of uti’s. Eventually she was feeling poorly one night and had an awful pain in her arm. She was taken to hospital after many hours wait, but we were told this was simply to speed up the process of getting tests done for an infection, so we weren’t overly concerned at this. She was then diagnosed with pneumonia and septicaemia and treated for this. For a few days in hospital things weren’t too bad. Having been admitted over a weekend everything seemed to take forever, and she seemed to be getting confused. She was then given a blood transfusion and for 1 day she was brighter. After this she began to slowly slip away and went from being massively confused to unconscious. It was then we were given the news that it was Myeloma, and that she wasn’t able to recover from the pneumonia because of the Myeloma but they couldn’t treat the Myeloma because of the pneumonia but even on the morning of the day she died the  medical team told us they weren’t thinking about end of life care. After her death however, they told us they were going to discuss ending treatment.

Sorry for the long winded story but I would be interested to hear others experiences, and this is the first time I have really shared this.

[eveParticipant]

Hello Kelly
It’s not often I come on to Myeloma UK, as I lost my husband over 3 years ago, but Myeloma as come into my life again ,as a friend has just lost her husband with Myeloma ,so I looked into the site.

First you have to know about a Myeloma, a doctor might only see it once in his life time,so GP seldom pick it up, usually it’s discovered by some form of damage to bones.
Myeloma has different types and some are harder to discover,my husband had BenceJones lightchain Myeloma and he was non secretor, only way to discover was bone marrow biopsy ,I am explaining this so you understand ,your nan being old would have had all the aches and pains for her age.

Treatment for Myeloma is often deferred if the patient is not well enough,I think if your nan had got over the pneumonia and septicaemia , they would have worked out a treatment package.

People don,t really die from Myeloma, they die from related causes,infection being the main problem,is they considered that your nan,s body could not respond,because septicaemia closes down organs very fast, the kindest thing is let nature takes it course, this is said with kindness.
My own husband came home to Palliative care,not expected to live more than a week,his Myeloma was only 10% but constant chemo had stopped him producing good cells. He fought hard and lived 10 weeks with out medication for Myeloma just strong pain relief .
His death certificate might say Myeloma ,but it was either an embolism or heart attack that took him.

I hope you kind find some peace of mind,concerning your Nan ,I all so hope you have learned a little bit about Myeloma , cancer is not nice,but I think Myeloma cancer is one of the top ones people don,t want.

[Author]

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