[HarmonyParticipant]

So pleased to hear this Mike. Any downward movement is a good thing.x

[HarmonyParticipant]

Thinking of you Mike. Hope you are managing to have a touch of normality in between the torture of waiting for test results.x

[HarmonyParticipant]

Hi Maureen,
I hope that Ian comes home for the weekend and is able to enjoy a bit of normality. One day at a time. God Bless you both.x

[HarmonyParticipant]

Hi, I hear your frustration and pain and I’m so sorry that you’re not getting any real answers. How about phoning the myeloma info line? There’s always a reassuring voice willing to listen and help.x

[HarmonyParticipant]

Great news Mike! I’m so pleased to hear.

[HarmonyParticipant]

Thnx again Cygnet. I’m sorry to hear about your pneumonia and I hope that you are feeling well again. I can tell that you experience the same emotions as me and I’m sure many other people in our situation feel it too – every twinge in the back makes us think that bone damage is settling in. Every lump or ache feels like evidence of advancing disease. We live our life in fear but we smile through the fear and try to be positive no matter what. I would like to be the kind of person who could make a positive out of a negative and do amazing things like raise money for Myeloma UK and other cancer charities but in reality, I’m still ducking away from it. I’d like to say that I’m an amazing mum but in reality, even though I love my kids more than life itself, I’m not as good as I could be at this. I’d like to say that I have an amazing marriage but in reality, I’m married to a self-centred, mean-spirited man who is not my soulmate. The positive thing is that despite all this, I love being alive and I want to hang on and I want to be there for my children so that I can keep trying to be the perfect mother in all of the American movies.

[HarmonyParticipant]

Thank you – I’m feeling blessed as the lump has turned out to be innocent breast tissue. Thank God – I was beginning to think that Cancer was a buy one get one free disease! A load has been lifted from me.

[HarmonyParticipant]

Hope all goes well and that you both keep strong and positive.x

[HarmonyParticipant]

A beautiful picture – I hope you find some comfort in good memories of happy times. Sometimes I think that the people that we lose stay alive when we have vivid dreams about happier times. At least, I hope that this will be the case for my children if my myeloma progresses. May we all smoulder forever!

[HarmonyParticipant]

Seems like your having a positive response Mike – keep strong, one day at a time.(Apologies for the clichés) but I wish you well.

[HarmonyParticipant]

I know exactly how you feel and what you are going through. 18 months ago, I was diagnosed at the age of 40 -my children were aged 10 and 7 and I had to keep pinching myself to check that it wasn’t a nightmare. I spent my nights crying myself to sleep and my days trying to be normal so that the kids wouldn’t suspect anything.I am still smouldering -which I am grateful for- but myeloma is a burden that I will always carry. I can now say that I have found peace and calm acceptance and you and your wife will find this too. I don’t think that my underlying anger will fade-I’m angry with the cancer cells for burdening me when all I want to do is live an ordinary life with ordinary concerns. It feels surreal because I feel so healthy and like your wife, I was diagnosed after a routine blood test.Take care, the shock will fade and calmness will descend on you.x

[HarmonyParticipant]

Just keep carrying on Mike-one foot in front of the other. Defy it. Do what you have to do. If you’re angry, let it empower you. If you are weepy, let tears be relief-catharsis. My thoughts are with you and with all of us who are on this journey.x

[HarmonyParticipant]

Hi Jan, I received my asymptomatic myeloma diagnosis on the 7th of October 2013 aged 40 – a date imprinted in my brain! The good news is that I’m still smouldering 17 months later. I’m learning that anxiety about the future is wasted time and energy. Smoulderers have the opportunity to grab life by the horns while we’re well. Here are the changes that I’ve made: Reduced work to part-time, done a few writing courses, planning to do a counselling course soon, drinking 3 cups of green tea daily, taking selenium every other day, eating copious amounts of kale and spinach, taking turmeric twice daily, reducing meat consumption – particularly processed red, taking aloe vera daily. Why all these changes? Simply because I need to feel that I’m trying. Even if it doesn’t make the blindest bit of difference, I have tried. The saddest part for me is the thought that I may not be here to see my children reach adulthood or even adolescence for that matter – that absolutely kills me more than anything else. This thought sends a crippling pain from my heart to my feet.

[HarmonyParticipant]

I’m so sorry for your loss and for the pain that you are all going through – especially your young children. I am a forty two year old mother of two children, aged 11 and 8, and I have myeloma. I would like to think that after my death, my children would get the opportunity to talk about me, take out photos and discuss memories. I would like my husband to do this so that they don’t feel that they have to repress their thoughts and feelings. I’d like them to have the space at home to cry when they need to and laugh when they need to. I don’t want them to be told to ‘be brave’ – I want them to have the freedom to express what they need to express Memories are precious – they keep us all alive. God bless you all. God love you all.x

[HarmonyParticipant]

Oh Mike, I’m so sorry about the sixty percent plasma cells but u r so incredibly knowledgeable and informed that I’m sure that you’ll make the right treatment choice for yourself. At least you won’t get blinded by the science- I try to take stuff in but my brain is unable to unravel it all most of the time. To be honest, I barely had a grasp of the function of white blood cells before my diagnosis! I hope that someone’s there to hold your hand through all of this because even doctors need to be patients when necessary. I’ll pray for you because that’s what I do- even though I sense that you’re probably far too rational for prayer. Carry on Mike -one foot in front of the other. Take the treatment and keep telling Myeloma to f..k off and let you get on with your life!!

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