I was diagnosed in the year 2000 with MM and had a stem cell transplant in the year 2001. I've been through chemotherapy, was given Thalidamide for two to three years -- I can't remember; and I had several sessions of radiation treatments. I had many bouts with nausea, and the only drug I could tolerate for nausea was Ativan. I started having tremendous pain in my spine and went through about three sessions of vertebroplasty. I also began having problems with neuropathy in my lower extremeties and my lower arms. Arthritis in my shoulders and in my hips led to two hip replacements which were successful and one shoulder replacement, which was not very successful. The doctor has recommended doing the shoulder replacement again, but I'm not sure that I have the strength. My stomach and colon were giving me a lot of pain and irritation, so the doctor handling this problem did a colonoscopy and perferated my colon. This led to calling in a surgeon to do emergency surgery and left me with a colostomy which I've had to deal with for the last two or three years. The pain I was having to deal with was immense. My oncologist put me on MSIR and Ativan. He also put me on a series of Duragesic Patches -- 200 mcg every three days -- which helped me with the pain, but did not eliminate it. Of course, I lost my job, and my insurance ran out, so I had to apply for and was granted Medicare. The company that manufactures the patches agreed to furnish them to me because, with our income, we couldn't afford it. (It cost $1000.00 a month.) My husband lost his job just about the time I was diagnosed with cancer. He is 63 years old and has only been able to acquire an occasional part-time job. He applied for early social security the first of this year and got it; however, this caused us to go past our allowed income to get aid with the Duragesic patches. I've had to stop the patches, and my pain has come back two-fold. I'm especially having pain down my back in the left side. I had some xrays made and they concluded I had broken some ribs and the xray pictures looked like broken ribs that were in a healing process. I've been going to the hospital to get post stem cell care once a month for IVIG and Aredia for about two years now because the hospital will give me financial aid. Prior to that I was getting this treatment at the cancer center here. A friend called me a couple of months ago to tell me people taking this treatment were having problems with atrophy of the jaw bone. My doctor sent me for xrays, but he has asked me to have my dentist check my jaw to see if I should have any other sort of tests run before he starts me back on the Aredia. Oh yes, I've also had procrit shots and I'm now taking B12 shots. I feel very tired and I don't think I have the strength to go through any further operations. Sorry for this extremely long answer. In short, the pain I'm having is extreme. I'd love to have a daily massage. I think that would be wonderful. I don't have any answers for you regarding what to do about your pain. I pray you will find some relief. Let me know if you hear about any new wonder drug that comes along.
Thanks