…Before I was diagnosed, I remember when I was taking a hike with one of my good friends and every so often I had to stop to catch my breath. I felt like I was out of air. In retrospect, that was one of the first signs that something was wrong with me….
…Finally, during a checkup a few months later, an abnormality did show up in one of my blood tests. That’s when the doctor gave me the dreaded news that I had “multiple myeloma” and that I had 3 or 4 years to live! I thought he said “melanoma” – I had never heard of MM. So, I went online and what I read scared me to death. I think I was in shock. The statistics didn’t look too good. But, during my research, I kept seeing Dr. Berenson’s name on many of the articles about MM and learned that he also saw patients…
…My wife agreed with me that I should see Dr. Berenson and also see the doctor that my regular doctor recommended – I would seek out two opinions. The other doctor said that I needed a stem cell transplant right away or I would die. Then, I went to see Dr. Berenson. He said that he didn’t think that I needed a transplant – that I was in good shape and young – I was 55 at the time. He also said that he’d like to put me on a trial with a drug called Zometa which had not yet been FDA-approved…
..I went back to the other doctor just to see why he thought that I needed a transplant. I wanted him to know that Dr. Berenson said that I didn’t need one, only treatment with monthly Zometa. I’ll never forget what the doctor said to me: “You better make up your mind who is treating you.” I said “I just did” and I left his office for Dr. Berenson’s clinic.
I never did have that stem cell transplant and that was 14 years ago! Dr. B. put me on the Zometa trial and I responded. I felt great on that monthly treatment for 8 years. We didn’t have to do anything else!…