My wife has now had three kyphoplasty procedures done over less than a two month period of time. She was scheduled for a fourth because of another fractured vertebrae, but since it isn’t causing much pain, and hasn’t compressed like the other troublesome ones, she and the doctor have agreed to give it a rest – for now.
A biopsy was supposed to have been done during the third kyphoplasty while Alma was already under anesthesia, but there was no marrow in the vertebrae being treated. So, a marrow biopsy is still yet another procedure she will have to undergo. The reason for the biopsy is that the hematologist and the oncologist working on her case believe she has a form of myeloma; a form of blood cancer. At one time they brought up the possibility of multiple myeloma, but now believe it’s a milder form called “smoldering myeloma.”
I recently had to take Alma to the emergency room because she was nauseated and had diarrhea and was emotionally upset because she faced more surgery and testing. Thankfully, we got an ER doctor who took the time with us to assure Alma that she had just contracted “a little virus”. He assured us that if a person must have a form of carcinoma (cancer), then myeloma was the kind to have as it’s highly treatable and people who have it live for years and decades without it seriously affecting their lives. He got her hydrated and gave her some anti-nausea medication.
The ER doctor also prescribed some anti-nausea suppositories because pills tend to be upchucked when one is nauseated. He didn’t take into account what happens to suppositories when one has diarrhea. Now, because of her back problems, Alma wasn’t even capable of twisting around enough to wipe her own butt, much less insert suppositories. Guess who had to stay home from work and do it (over and over)? Also guess who had to give his first enema? I guess I should be getting used to this. I worked as a ward attendant on a geriatrics ward at a state mental hospital one summer while in college. I home-cared my mother for over four years and watched her slowly deteriorate physically and mentally until she finally had to be admitted to a nursing facility. Now, my employer has found enough hours for me to become a full-time employee WITH BENEFITS! That’s wonderful, it really is – but I’d really, really like to have one day to myself, with nothing to do that I don’t want to do.
Alma appears to be getting better physically and mentally. I pray that that will continue until she’s back to being a healthy, independent, productive person again. Not having to have the fourth back surgery has done wonders for her (and my) morale. For the time being, she’s taking Fosamax to strengthen her bones. There are a couple of other treatment options involving injections or infusions. Her hematologist and primary physician haven’t yet agreed on which treatment will be best. There’ll be more tests to determine that.
Alma had had a bone density test a couple of years ago, and everything was normal. Her osteoporosis was sudden-onset. The medicos still don’t know for sure what caused it, but suspect it is a form of myeloma. The kindly ER doctor told us that the majority of his osteoporosis patients are blue-eyed post-menopausal women with blond hair and with fair complexions. Get your bone density tests gals!
