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Who will be the donor and how good of a match?
Does the donor know about side effects of the medications they use to get the stem cells active?
Do you know what stage he is?
How old is he and does he have any other medical problems?
Please make sure where he is being treated is a decent place. That has everything to do with it.
Thanks for the updated info - much better odds than 14%, but still pretty scary.
He is 46 years old, stage 2 and in great health other than this illness.
They are harvesting the stem cells from his own blood - there is not a donor. There is some discussion of a bone marrow transplant following this stem cell transplant at some point in the future, but I don't know the details of that.
He is being followed at a state medical university hospital. There was some discussion about him traveling to another center for consultation and care, but his fractured leg is not healing well and he is mobility is very limited.
Do you know of any websites that compare outcomes center to center?
Actually, data from 2006 are relatively old. Especially when you consider that the data gathering phase could be a couple of years and the publication usually takes a year or so...
Actually, data from 2006 are relatively old. Especially when you consider that the data gathering phase could be a couple of years and the publication usually takes a year or so...
You are right, but I don't it has change dramatically where 50 or 60% of the people survive MM.
Thanks for the updated info - much better odds than 14%, but still pretty scary.
He is 46 years old, stage 2 and in great health other than this illness.
They are harvesting the stem cells from his own blood - there is not a donor. There is some discussion of a bone marrow transplant following this stem cell transplant at some point in the future, but I don't know the details of that.
He is being followed at a state medical university hospital. There was some discussion about him traveling to another center for consultation and care, but his fractured leg is not healing well and he is mobility is very limited.
Do you know of any websites that compare outcomes center to center?
I just stumbled on this site - Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) (http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/treatments/3.03.php - broken link)
At one time I did find a good site that compared treatment at different places, not sure if I still have it.
Cancer treatment has come a long way since my dad was diagnosed in 2005. He was going to do a stem cell transplant but the cancer had already progressed.
One thing I can tell you is that time is not on anyone's side. You need to treat and you need to do it asap. That's what eventually got us. My dad was in remission, then we went back 3 times per week. At one appointment they found it had come back. We were so shocked that we couldn't think, then a week passed due to people being on vacation and things went so slow. It was just too late by the time people were tested as my dad couldn't donate his own.
You also should go to the National Cancer Institute to look at clinical trials to see what new treatment there is. If it wasn't for a clinical trial my dad wouldn't have been around as long as he was.
btw - someone needs to ask what the survival rate is for bone marrow for his age. For my dad it was 1 in 3 survived which was not good odds. He was 69 when diagnosed but with AML
Multiple Myeloma Trial Results - this was a quick search - I didn't read it due to lack of time but that's the site to look for clinical trials.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Viralmd
Actually, data from 2006 are relatively old. Especially when you consider that the data gathering phase could be a couple of years and the publication usually takes a year or so...
I agree. Stem cell transplants were new when my dad was sick. He was going to be the 2nd person to have it done IIRC. Now it's routine.
Thanks for the updated info - much better odds than 14%, but still pretty scary.
He is 46 years old, stage 2 and in great health other than this illness.
They are harvesting the stem cells from his own blood - there is not a donor. There is some discussion of a bone marrow transplant following this stem cell transplant at some point in the future, but I don't know the details of that.
He is being followed at a state medical university hospital. There was some discussion about him traveling to another center for consultation and care, but his fractured leg is not healing well and he is mobility is very limited.
Do you know of any websites that compare outcomes center to center?
By the way, I wanted to say that if your brother lives far from you to make a trip to see him. Also take lots of photos. If there will be any birthdays when he's scheduled to go in and for the next month after that, celebrate them now before he goes in.
Also make sure that someone knows his wishes. There is a form called 5 wishes that you can save to your computer & open with a free pdf viewer (think it was coolpdf viewer - don't use adobe) then he can fill it out. What he's going to go through will be scary and he will want to do it on his terms. Google 5 wishes, you should find it, if not send me a direct message.
Any passwords and bank account info should be written down. If he does not have a will, he should do one. Also someone to make decisions for him when he can't.
I'm not trying to scare you btw.. was something I wanted to post last night & forgot.
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