sjgcbm's Cancer Blog
July 3, 2008
| WHAT IS MYELOMA? | Views: 422 |
For friends and family who might like to know what myeloma is, I found a definition online.
Multiple Myeloma is literally an “oma,” or tumor, involving the “myelo,” or blood-producing cells in the bone marrow. The cells that are affected are plasma cells (a type of white blood cell), which are our antibody- (immunoglobulin-) producing cells. A malignant or cancerous plasma cell is called a myeloma cell. Multiple Myeloma is called “multiple” since there are frequently multiple patches or areas in the bones where tumors or lesions have developed. A single lesion is called a solitary plasmacytoma.
Myeloma affects the places where bone marrow is normally active in an adult. This marrow is in the hollow area within the bones of the spine, skull, and pelvic bones, the rib cage, and the areas around the shoulders and hips. The areas usually not affected are the extremities: that is the hands, feet, and lower arm/leg regions. This is very important since the function of these critical areas is usually fully retained.
06.27.08 - 
Sari 
pokytrokyt 
Lee Lehman 
Thanks for your support -
hi SJ - or they can just go to the blog I did for you and learn more than they every wanted to know.
anyhow – this is why you are a unicorn (which you can put into your own page and delete this comment if you wish):
Sarajane the unicorn
One of the first things they teach you in medical school is that when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. This means that you should start your differential diagnosis with the most common diseases that match the patient’s symptoms. But multiple myeloma is a zebra. Less than 20,000 Americans are diagnosed with multiple myeloma each year, making it a relatively rate type of cancer. And the symptoms are amorphous – feeling tired, some aches and pains – that could be almost anything – or nothing, especially as we get older.
And Sarajane is a rare zebra, a unicorn. Of the estimated 19920 American diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2008, only 8720 are women, only 20% of all patients are in Sarajane’s age group, and and prevalence in white women is quite low, compared to other groups. Add in that Sarajane is both Jewish and bisexual – and, apparently, allergic to thalidomide – and she is an N of 1 – truly a rare and beautiful unicorn.
I hope her health care team pays attention to how rare she is.
love
pam
Thanks for that posting. My mother had myeloma when she was in her 80’s not too many years before she died. She died from a heart attack in 1988. I never learned much about the kind she had at the time so this was very interesting. All I remember was that they did surgery and cut a large very deep hunk out of her upper arm.
Take care. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Hugs,
Joyce
Well this is sounding a bit like a medical class but well worth the read. Thanks for the education girls. This is one heck of a blog.
Weezie.