Let the Blog Begin! or There's a Monkey on My Back

It was Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 9:45 pm and I was laying on the space-aged sliding table of an MRI machine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. My claustrophobic,  two hour long joyride, complete with that infernal BANG, BANG, BANG-ing noise,seemingly delivered by an unsupervised barrel of monkeys armed with ball peen hammers, had mercifully ended. What normally might have been 'no big deal' was made infinitely more difficult because I was experiencing excruciating pain in my bones.

A young doctor (not Doogie Howser young, but likely half my 49 years) came into the room to tell me ‘We need to admit you to the hospital tonight because of your back problem.’ ‘My back problem?’ ‘Yes. You have a collapsed vertebrae at T4, there are bone shards and a tumor compromising  your spinal cord and if you fall down or turn the wrong way at the wrong time, you might paralyze yourself from the chest down.’

Oh, THAT  back problem.  No wonder a heating pad and a fist full of Aleve hadn’t  given me any pain relief.

Sheesh! It was just three weeks earlier that my GP had calmly told my wife and me ‘You might have cancer- but don’t quote me. We need more tests.’   Unfortunately, he was right. And above and beyond an eventual diagnosis that included the word ‘incurable’, it now sounded like a sudden attack of my natural klutziness might lead to unimaginable problems. Stop this not-so-merry-go-round, I want to get off!

Fast forward to today. It’s been a remarkable sixteen months and [SPOILER ALERT]  I’m not paralyzed and my incurable bone marrow cancer is in remission. The struggle continues, but there is HOPE! And to tell you the truth, my team and I are aiming for nothing less than a cure.

Myeloma Youreloma is designed to answer some of the questions that my friends, family, and unsuspecting internet travelers may have regarding Myeloma, my personal trek through Myelomaville, and more.

There are some decidedly cerebral, exactingly detailed Myeloma blogs cast out across the net - this isn't one of them! I can’t promise that I’ll spell everything korrectly or offer a daily update, but this will be an honest attempt to share my thoughts, as  ill-focused and silly as they might be.

Feel free to participate in this process, yell at me, beg for me to stop, ask questions, bribe me with apple pie, do whatever you'd like. By stopping here, you are now an honored visitor to the village of Myelomaville. And I need your help, for as they say, it takes a village to raise a Sean Murray.

Welcome to the Village!


Sean 'trying hard not to be the village idiot' Murray

Illustration (c) Ariel Schrag