The Long and Short Of It

My name is Christopher James Carlsson and I have Multiple Myeloma, which has no known cure. Please do not confuse this with a more common cancer called Melanoma, which is cancer of the skin.  Multiple Myeloma is a rare cancer of the blood plasma that effects the bones via lesions that grow on and in the bone. If left undetected or untreated, these can cause the bones to become like Swiss cheese or brittle like dried twigs. I know of a Multiple Myeloma patient that slammed his car door and broke his back. Another who, randomly shook his father-in-law's hand, as he had done a million times before and broke his arm in six places. These types of injuries are common and it is what I am trying to prevent as well as not succumbing to it.

I feel I need to start prefacing my posts with that information for greater understanding of what I have.

One thing that has come up in discussion with my bride and I, is what do we say when people ask how I am doing. Of course, everyone will say to tell them the truth. But the thing is, the truth is not pretty. And it depends on the circumstances. Did the person ask in haste? Say, at the end of church and they have a kid in each hand and a foot out the door? The explanation takes a little while, and they pretty much have left the conversation at that point. Or maybe you see them at work, knowing they are probably not supposed to stand around, but they ask to be polite. Or my favorite, at a stop light, rolling down their window and yelling across the lane. Literally, there is not enough time to explain how I am doing.

So the quick answers for everyone are these. 'We are hanging in there.' 'He is still fighting the fight.' 'We are doing the best we can.' 'We have each other, and that makes us happy.' 'Doing okay.' Because, those are ALL the truth. But hopefully, I can shed some light on where we are at exactly. I am not as good as Michelle at describing things, so I will give you my interpretation of my care and hopefully, that works!

So, for 21 days straight, I take an oral medication of a very strong chemotherapy drug. It is so potent, that the orange plastic medication container that it comes in, is also in a plastic bag and has a warning that only the patient should touch it. I have a monthly phone call with the manufacturer of the medication to answer questions about the potency of the drug, and, I also have to have an over-the-phone interview with the Huntsman Pharmacist about the drug. After 21 days, I have a 7 day reprieve of the drug to give my body a chance to recover a bit. Then it is right back on it.

Along with that, I have another chemotherapy drug that has to be infused. Infusion is done at the Huntsman, and I have a port line in my chest that they can hook an IV up to quickly, draw blood labs, and then use the same line to drip the drug in. This is the drug that I convinced them to use the 90 minute version. However, it still takes forever, because they draw labs, wait for the results, and then create the chemotherapy. This can take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours, on top of infusion. So yes, when it was a 4 hour infusion, it could take 6 to 8 hours of the day. Now if I could only get them to speed up the blood work! Anyways, this chemotherapy drug works like a recon unit in the military. It goes
in and attaches itself to the cancer cells and works with the daily pill chemotherapy to take them out. Really futuristic stuff.

The third drug I take, twice a week, is a steroid. According to some, this is the most important drug I take in the fight against Multiple Myeloma. It is also the one that takes it's toll on me almost immediately after taking it.

The effects of all three of these together can be devastating to the human body. Some days, I cannot keep anything down. Others, I have so much pain in my feet that I do not want to get out of bed. I do, but it feels like walking on thumbtacks or knives.  Some days I have headaches so bad, that I cry when light shines through. Some days I have a fever so hot that I am hot to the touch. Some days I am dizzy and have almost fallen over or almost put my hand through glass. Other days I just feel crummy, and have no description just, blah. I have constant pain and my go to drug of choice, Ibuprofen, must be taken sparingly, as it goes through the kidneys and then the whole "Opioid Epidemic" has doctors and pharmacists on edge about prescribing them, so I do not even ask. Even other days, I am so tired, I cannot sleep. Just last week I laid in bed until 8 AM, before I fell asleep.

As I said before, Multiple Myeloma has no cure. I take over a dozen other medications to help with side effects and other properties of the chemotherapy. It is not pretty. It is painful and I will be fighting for the rest of my life. But, by fighting, I hope to prolong my life. So just remember, if you ask how I am doing, there is the long answer and the short answer. Neither one is that I am doing good. I will however, be in good spirits. I will do my best to make you laugh. And if you talk a mean video game, I will be right there with you. I still love getting visits, and I love talking sports and eating good food. Thank you for all the friends and family that have supported Michelle and I, you are all amazing, and I truly cannot wait to see what the future holds, even if it means staying awake at all hours in the morning.  Maybe I will text one of you? ;)