John Klinefelter

John Klinefelter's update on my journey with Multiple Myeloma

Many of you know that I have Multiple Myeloma.  On my yearly physical the end of April this year my doctor saw that one of my blood sample readings was off.  I was referred to an oncologist here in the Sacramento area and from there and with many tests to follow it was confirmed that I have Multiple Myeloma.  We spent quite a bit of time researching where to go for treatment and decided on the University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center.

We have set up a site where you can go if you want to get updates from us.  Caringbridge.org is the site and they will be e-mailing you an invite.  Please post on the site.  That way we will know if you have been contacted by Caringbridge.

I met with Dr. Wolf on June 20th and again on June 28th.  Dr. Jeffrey Wolf is an expert in cancer of the bone marrow and his primary area of research is myeloma.  He is director of the Multiple Myeloma Program at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.  Treatment has begun and I have started taking 5 or 6 medications every day on a 28 day cycle.  I will have one week off out of the month during those 28 days where I only will be taking a minimum amount of medication.  Each Tuesday 3 weeks out of 4  we will be going to San Francisco and I will have a blood draw plus an injection of Velcade.  Another drug that I am taking is Revlimid which is only available through a restricted distribution program, REVLIMID REMS.

So far I feel fine and am being told that I will probably start feeling some fatigue in about 10 days after starting the medication.  Multiple Myeloma is a cancer of the bone that affects the plasma cells in your blood.

John and Val