John Kovalchick

Our Journey with Multiple Myeloma:
The Good, the Bad, and the Joyous
 (James 1:2-4)
--John Kovalchick
Thanks so much for stopping by! Your notes & comments have played a huge role in encouraging us from the very beginning of this journey. We also hope that by documenting & sharing our story, we may be able to help & encourage others in some way.

We are increasingly grateful & thankful for the wonderful gift of life, and for the incredible blessing of friends & family. :-)



Here's a brief synopsis of how I arrived at the starting point for this "up close & personal" encounter with MM.
In early February I went to my Doctor concerning some severe spasms in my lower back. An intial set of x-rays revealed no fractures or major problems, so I was prescribed some meds for pain, and for back spasms, and was sent on my way. Oh, one more thing; my wife requested a complete blood workup "while we were there," since it had been about a year since my last one with our family physician; and the previous couple of blood tests had shown some anemia. This was on a Monday. The next day, our Dr. called us with the shocking news; my bloodwork was sending up several red flags, indicative of Multiple Myeloma. He wanted to schedule a bone marrow biopsy and a total body bone scan prior to making any definite diagnosis. I endured the bone marrow biopsy on Wednesday, and scheduled the bone scan for Thursday. By Friday (2/11/11) we received the dreaded call: although the bone scan showed nothing significant; results of the bone marrow biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. Here we go....