Dear Gavin
I'm surprised that i didn't pick up on your posting before as I have been asking very simnilar questions to you.
I was diagnosed in Oct 10 at age 65yrs. I had an op to remove a plasmatoma to my spine. There are traces of MM i(now at 10 I believe) in my bone marrow, but like you everything else was fine. MY first meetings with the Consultants were very unsatisactory and it was a case of are they or aren't they going to recommend chemo. There were some suspected lesions in my bones.
After my op I felt better than I had for years, because all the pain in my back, which both I and my GP had put down to worsening arthritis, had made life unbearable. Because of this I was in no hurry to have chemo, although I knew I had to have radiotherepy, which I am in the middle of now.
Fortunately, when I finally met up with the Oncologist, at the local hospital, who will be looking after me long-term, she could quite understand my quality of life over quantity of life questions. She said I was at the beginning of my MM journey and, following a blood test she did (the paraprotein 10 reading) she says she isn't advising any more treatment at present. She is seeing me again at the end of the month.
Sorry for the long posting! I can't remember if you said how you came to be diagnosed.
I have joint the American MM site and with everything I have read there I would certainly not bbe in a hurry to have a tramsplant, although i wouldn't want to say "never". It seems many Oncologists are questioniing whether transplants are still neccessarily the gold standard for treatment.
My very best wishes to you as you tread this road. I shall read of your progress with interest.
Mavis
