Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
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Multiple Myeloma Prognosis- How Long Have I Got?
“Even with the help of big data and online prognostic tools, immunotherapies and targeted treatments (for MM) have made this question very difficult to answer.”
When I was first diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) in early 1994, it was pretty easy to give a reasonably accurate prognosis for my incurable cancer. The average life expectancy was 3-5 years then. I reached multi-drug resistence (MDR) after almost 4 years and would have hobbled around in pain for another 6-12 months or so.
Skip ahead to today. The average MM patient lives 5-7 years. But the bell curve has widened considerably.
Ninety-plus percent of MM patients, at all stages of MM, I,II,III, respond to induction therapy. I know of early stage MM patients who have a short remission and I know of stage III MM patients who enjoy a long remission (5 or more years) to their induction therapy.
And I’m generalizing only about a newly diagnosed MM patient’s first remission. A long and growing list of FDA approved MM chemotherapy regimens in addition to a long and growing list of evidence-based but non-conventional MM therapies means that patients have lots of choices, lots of combos to work through.
Every newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patient is told that his/her blood cancer is incurable and that the average life expectance is 5-7 years. That’s a bummer to hear certainly.
But you may then hear or read that your multiple myeloma is very treatable. What does this mean??? This is where I come in. I was that guy who reached MDR after almost 4 years yet is writing this post more than 25 years after his diagnosis with MM? How can that be?
Have you been diagnosed with MM? To learn more about the full spectrum of MM therapies, both FDA approved, conventional and evidence-based, non-conventional therapies, scroll down the page, post a question or a comment and I will reply to you ASAP.
Thank you,
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
- Cytogenetic Prognostic Index in Multiple Myeloma
- Probiotic Prehabilitation for Multiple Myeloma Induction Therapy Improves Outcomes
- Get Your Myeloma Staged before you walk out of your Oncologist’s Office!
How Long Do I Have?’ Tackling Oncology’s Most Difficult Question
“How long have I got to live?”
It’s a question that cuts to the heart of patients’ concerns.
Even with the help of big data and online prognostic tools, immunotherapies and targeted treatments have made this question very difficult to answer. This is where prognosticating becomes more of an art than a science, and one that requires a careful, step-by-step approach based on clinical experience and intuition…
Available Tools for Developing a Prognosis
Once a patient’s willingness and knowledge base are established, the physician can think about the actual prognosis. To decide on what that is exactly, many physicians rely on online tools…
Individuals, Not Averages
Regardless of the tool used, most will eventually provide two pieces of information: the percent chance a patient will be cured or how much time they have left if their cancer is incurable.
These numbers will inevitably become a point of focus for the patient. That’s part of the problem, because it’s difficult to apply them to the individual when, as Korones says, “Everybody is different, and everybody’s disease behaves in a slightly different way…”
To offset this false sense of certainty, Korones emphasizes to patients that any percentage is based on people “who might have different presentations or a slightly different type of disease or in different ages, so it’s very hard to come up with a precise number.”
He then admits to patients that doctors are not very good guessers.
“I say that for two reasons. One is because it’s true and to prepare them that whatever [doctors] say is just a rough estimate. But the other reason is to humanize me and to let them know we’re in this together, that I’m not infallible at this and I’m not all-knowing.”