Sunday, April 24, 2011

Waiting For That Other Shoe...

When I was told I had cancer life froze in that moment. My face set in a polite smile and my eyes focused on the neatly knotted, blue, bow tie with tiny, red polka dots worn by the bright young Doctor as he spoke the words in measured tone.

"I'm not sure what they told you after the surgery, [to remove a tumor, plasmacytoma, from my chest], but you do have cancer."

The doctor and nurses who sat with me that morning, seemed impressed at my unshaken composure.  Then again, they had witnessed this act before.

Hearing the news was a body blow, like receiving a concussion without losing consciousness. I knew what the words meant: "multiple myeloma; blood cancer; extending survival rates; pray for remission; there is no cure".

Riding through a high tech car wash recently, reminded me of that day.  A violent storm driving water, chemicals, huge brushes and jet engine like fans, beating hell on the car's exterior as I floated through in the dry, quiet solitude within. 

The incremental progression of MM is unsatisfying. Is that the word? We know that MM progresses inevitably to death, but with unpredictable pacing. Unpredictable sounds strange I'm sure to the uninitiated but it feels right to me. The old stats had the average survival rate at five years. Actually, that may have been the median rate rather than the mean, but either way, new protocols and combination drug therapies have moved the numbers up the curve.

I use the word unsatisfying because the disease bursts like a surprise tornado into furious activity, requiring massive retaliation by the oncology team, and then goes quiet.  In my case, a plasmacytoma (tumor) was removed from my chest in January of 2003, followed by six weeks of radiation in April. Five months later I was well enough that I rode my new Lemond Road bike in the 192 mile Pan Mass Challenge.

 I have ridden four or five times since, in between ambushes by the MM cells that hide like bandits in tiny ravines, and dead end canyons throughout my bone marrow.

The late Reverend Peter Gomes said,"Faith is the conviction that hope works."I have faith that if I and 'my' oncology team could get one-on-one with this beast, we would win. Instead we go from skirmish to skirmish, fighting against a guerrilla force that chooses the time, place and virulence that satisfies its design.

 So I vent.  Yet, on each monthly clinic visit, or when visiting sites like "MM for Dummies," I see and read of others dealing with serious ramifications of a more violent class of MM. In particular, the growing number of young people fighting this cancer, once nearly exclusively a disease of the elderly.

I'm thankful that I am relatively active at 62 and grateful for the dynamic brilliance of the Dana Farber Oncology folks who have succeeded time and again in driving my disease into dormancy.  My admiration and respect for fellow travelers, especially the young, like Paula the knitter and Phil the kicker, who live with much more courage than should be required at their ages, knows no bounds.

Again, I apologize for venting when I have much to be grateful for. Still, I can't help but pray for that other shoe to drop so I can take this fight to the final decision, one way or another. 

4 comments:

  1. Hello there!
    Thanks for your comment on my blog.
    That's a pretty good description of the MM we are experiencing - we drift along for months at a time "on a plateau" and then it's whoooosh! off on the rollercoaster again. And I realise I am writing "we" when I am just the observer / carer, and what do I know?! Hope all continues to go well for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You posted on my blog retiredforgood quite awhile ago and must have changed blogs because when I clicked on your name I got sent to your other one... we share similar outlooks.

    Anyhow, just stopping by to let you know that I am intending all is well with you...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well I've gotten to you round the houses it seems and it appears you have done quite well so far, which is of course fantastic. Mike (the one blessed with myeloma) is somewhere between you and Paula in age and is endlessly frustrated by her current state. It's good to read of success stories but I've yet to acquire the ability to relax between appointments

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Lorna and Mike... I've followed you for some time now, variously anxious and excited at the events of your life together. You inspire with your honest humor and your bold commitment to each other. You share a robust love and I basque in the glowing warmth that overflows your hearts and spills into the universe we share.

      Paula tears at my heart with every setback, yet the ferocity of her will and the strength of her fighting spirit is reason to believe she can defeat the beast.

      My body has responded well to the treatments, which seems somehow unfair to me as I have had time for a good life, but the hope is that one piece of success leads ultimately to completion of the puzzle and a cure for MM.

      Hope you're feeling well, Mike, and bless your caring spirit Lorna.

      Blessings to Both,
      SG

      Delete