A Babs Update
This is posted with Mom's permission.
Since so many of you know and love my mom, and have spent time with her, often asking how she's doing, I asked her if I could write an update to share with everyone at once.
Overall, she's doing fine. She continues to tell us she's glad she lives in the retirement community, and I know that logically she does. It is the safer, wisest decision. She stays busy, enjoys the people and the life she has there. I know she'd still rather be driving herself around, living out on the acreage in the last house she and Dad built together, mowing her own yard, but overall, she's happy.
Lately, though, there have been some hurdles. The straightforward hurdle is that she's currently recovering from Covid. The cough has been racking her body for a couple weeks now, but seems to be improving.
The less straightforward issue is the neck and shoulder pain she's been dealing with for several months now. We thought it was arthritis and hoped that a "simple" set of neck injections would ease the pain. The arthritis doctor, understandably, wanted extra scans to understand more before doing any injections. The first set of scans led to more questions. The more helpful, in depth, second type of scan was not approved by her insurance, so instead she had to have a less helpful scan, then a bone marrow biopsy; the second biopsy in three years. (For the blissfully uninitiated, these can be horribly painful. Mom said this second one was less painful than the previous.)
All of that led to a conversation in the oncologist's office.
To sum up: it's most likely multiple myeloma.
"Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer in the United States. Developing from plasma cells in the bone marrow, multiple myeloma often first presents as bone pain."
The answer was less definitive than it might have been if the insurance company hadn't interfered with the doctor/patient relationship, but regardless, the oncologist did offer nuanced information.
With the treatment options, this is likely a cancer Mom will die with, not from.
The way her pain presents is atypical, which is one of the reasons the oncologist was measured when he talked about what he suspected. Regardless of that though, the current goal is to get her pain to a more manageable level. She is incredibly tough and stubborn and keeps moving despite the pain, but chronic pain can be a spirit breaker.
With that goal in mind, she and a friend visited the radiation oncologist to learn if/ how radiation treatment might help with her neck and shoulder pain. Again, the information was mixed/measured.
"Your bones look atypical for myeloma. There's definitely something not right, but I'm not sure radiation will help. We can try it, because you need to find pain relief, but I am not positive this will do it."
After a bit more discussion, she decided she wanted to give this a try. My dad got some pain relief from radiation, which gives me a bit of hope for Mom, but we also asked her to request a referral for a pain specialist. The radiation oncologist mentioned that could be a potential next step, but that referrals to them can take a long time. We don't want her to have to wait very long if the radiation doesn't provide sufficient relief.
Mom went yesterday for the scan that was used to mold the helmet that she'll wear to hold her still while the hot spots are radiated on her neck and shoulder. This is low dose radiation, so hopefully few, or no, side effects. She will begin on Monday, going every day for two weeks. The cancer center will have a meal there for her to take home so she won't have to worry about making her own dinner, which is a lovely support.
That's the news. Not great, but not horrible. And with Mom's trademark optimism and rationality, we'll get through it.
I got this text yesterday from one of her besties at Prairie Vista. (Yes, Babs, George and I have spies all around you. 😉)
"Barb came down for lunch today. She seemed so much better. It was great to see her again."
If love is our measure of wellness, she's doing very well indeed.
