Hi Everyone! This is Aloma and I’m writing about my current situation so that you’ll hear it from me, directly. I’m 47 years old, live with my boyfriend of 15 years (Robert Cassella). We have three kids, Amber, Madison, and John. Amber works full-time as a teacher at a daycare. Madison and John are both in college. I never thought I’d be in this position. I know, cliché’. Let’s get right to it. I’ve been diagnosed with blood cancer, Multiple Myeloma. Oddly, statistically, I should not have this cancer as I don’t fit the “mold”. But here I am. Having done the 23 & Me DNA testing, which showed that my body does not filter out toxins as quickly as others, it genetically makes sense. There isn’t a known cause, but I do believe my one genetic disposition mixed with the number of toxins in our environment (GMO foods, pesticides, coating on pans, the water we drink) makes it make sense. Over this past winter, I had an incident where I experienced rib pain while shoveling snow. It literally felt like someone punched me in my ribs. I did go to my PCP (no xrays) and was told it was most likely muscular. It took over a month to feel better. This could have been a rib fracture, but we don’t know. A couple of months later, I went to the eye doctor as I had been having trouble reading (lovely to get older). I don’t usually wear glasses, so I now have a new pair of reading glasses. While there, I decided to pay extra money to have photos taken of the back of my eyes. They told me to mention to my doctor that there was blood in the back of my eye. This would be normal if I have glucose issues, but I don’t. So, something else was going on with my blood… In April I started feeling rib pain in my back that couldn’t be recreated by pushing on it. That’s when I first started to be concerned and mentioned to my boyfriend that I thought I had cancer. I said those words out loud. Knowing that I had a yearly physical coming up in June, I figured I would wait unless something more started to happen with how I felt. That’s when Memorial Day came into play. We went to a family get-together and were playing wiffle ball. While running to first base, my muscles across the thoracic part of my back began to spasm (something I’ve never felt before). It hurt to the point that I needed to sit out and couldn’t keep playing the game. That evening, after getting home, it just got worse. I wasn’t able to sit/stand without assistance and the pain felt worse than childbirth. This is when I decided I needed to go to the ER. The team in the ER ran many tests, without finding anything definitive. They were able to help me to get to a point where I could go home and treat the area so that I could function with assistance. Fast forward to Thursday of that week, and a follow-up with my PCP. My PCP did not like the lab results from the ER and requested new labs. It’s been a roller coaster ride of tests, blood work, MRI, full body x-rays, CT scans, PET scan, surgery to place a titanium rod inside my left femur, targeted radiation on my spine, chemo, and soon-to-be-targeted radiation on my femur. At the end of the chemo cycle, it is part of the plan to perform a stem cell transplant, which will be a ten-day, in-hospital stay. I know the journey is going to be challenging and I expect it to really suck sometimes, but I am positive that I’ll get through this and will be ok. The amount of love and support that I’ve received has been amazing and so appreciated. I’m open to sharing and talking with anyone and appreciate hearing about others' journeys with challenging times, as I find those inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to read what I’ve written.
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