My Multiple Myeloma Journey
My name is Stephanie “Steph” Watkins. My husband John and I are self-employed with our own plumbing service as well as my fitness and health coaching business. At the start of 2019, our businesses were thriving, and we had a laundry list of New Year’s resolutions. This was going to be the year we got it all together.
I was going to commit to my fitness and health regimen, declutter our home and office, organize our paperwork on the computer, tackle the master closet. I had 12 months all planned out. What I didn’t plan on was that just a few months in, I would have only one goal: To make it to 2020.
Because on May 28, 2019, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer that attacks your bone marrow. Within a few short months, I went from rebuilding the shelves in our master closet to being unable to brush my own teeth.
It started in March. At first, I thought it was just a lower backache. Every time I sat down it felt like I was sitting on a rock on my upper right butt cheek . Maybe I’d irritated my old L3-L4 disc injury by sitting too long at the computer?
We didn’t have health insurance yet, so I decided to self-treat with rest, massage, Advil, and a visit to my chiropractor. But the pain got worse. My ribs began to ache. I had intense back spasms. Just getting out of bed was agony.
By April, I’d been to a doctor who’d accept cash, and another who just prescribed pain meds. But any relief was short-lived. I saw a physical therapist who couldn’t examine me because I was in too much pain. So he referred me to a spine doctor.
At this point, I knew in my gut that this was serious. I just had no idea how serious. I was now using a walker. I had to sleep in our recliner because it was too painful to sleep in our bed. John had to help with all of my personal care. I was helpless and in pain. It was taking a toll on me.
In a stroke of grace, our health insurance application came through the week of my appointment with the spine doctor. Thank God, because…
After seeing the first set of X-rays, I knew why I’d been in such pain. My spine was riddled with black spots and fractures. One vertebra was half-eaten by the cancer. CT scans and blood work later, I would learn that the rock I’d felt in my upper tailbone was a cancerous mass the size of an orange. And I would learn my diagnosis: Multiple Myeloma. Cancer.
After hearing this, the doctor left John and me alone in the room so we could process this nightmare. As the door shut, we looked at each other. Is this really happening?
My first thought was, “I don’t want to die!” I want to see my daughter graduate from nursing school. I want to see my son become a firefighter. I want to dance at their weddings. I want to know my grandchildren and babysit them and break all the rules for them. I began to cry, and John held me, crying with me.
And then the real fight began. We’re in the middle of that fight as I write this. What got us this far is something I hope you’ll take to heart: Never, Never Give Up and just accept what a doctor tells you. Always trust your gut and seek help until you have answers. I never gave up, and it has saved my life.
Since my diagnosis, I have been on a medical odyssey that, along with biopsies, PET scans, cancer medications and infusions, also included restoring my kidneys, which had been ravaged by the disease.
We also learned that the Myeloma had attacked my ribs, chest bone, shoulders, and some areas in my arms and legs. Add to that, I had a bout with Pneumonia and then a saddle blood clot across my lungs that put me in the hospital for over a week. I ended July with the discovery of a lesion at the base of my skull. What?!
But treating that lesion has to stand in line behind radiation treatments for the mass on my tailbone, and a surgical procedure on the worst of my vertebrae. Here’s the real kicker: The most challenging part of my journey hasn’t even begun. On October 11th I will undergo a Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplant.
May 28th was the start of my New Life, in fact our New Life. My cancer diagnosis was not just mine. My husband John is my co-patient. He has been by my side every step of this journey. Everything in our lives has come second to taking care of me. Taking time away from work has been a financial hardship and stressor on top of battling cancer. It has taught us a new kind of gratitude.
We are so grateful for the support from family, friends, and even some people I hardly know! I could not have gotten this far without you. Asking for help was hard for us because John and I are always the people who help others. This journey has taught us that asking for help is nothing to be ashamed of.
I am a new person since this all began. For one, at the start of 2019 I was 5’2”. After cancer’s insult to my spine, I’m now and will always be 4’11”. I’ve lost a good amount of hair. I’m told I’ll lose the rest after my transplant. I may be shorter, and I may be going bald, but I am so much tougher than I ever was. And I am so much more in love with life than I ever knew was possible.
Thank you for being there for us. We are going to need you even more in the weeks to come. But for now, please keep me and my family in your prayers.
Love, Steph
My name is Stephanie “Steph” Watkins. My husband John and I are self-employed with our own plumbing service as well as my fitness and health coaching business. At the start of 2019, our businesses were thriving, and we had a laundry list of New Year’s resolutions. This was going to be the year we got it all together.
I was going to commit to my fitness and health regimen, declutter our home and office, organize our paperwork on the computer, tackle the master closet. I had 12 months all planned out. What I didn’t plan on was that just a few months in, I would have only one goal: To make it to 2020.
Because on May 28, 2019, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer that attacks your bone marrow. Within a few short months, I went from rebuilding the shelves in our master closet to being unable to brush my own teeth.
It started in March. At first, I thought it was just a lower backache. Every time I sat down it felt like I was sitting on a rock on my upper right butt cheek . Maybe I’d irritated my old L3-L4 disc injury by sitting too long at the computer?
We didn’t have health insurance yet, so I decided to self-treat with rest, massage, Advil, and a visit to my chiropractor. But the pain got worse. My ribs began to ache. I had intense back spasms. Just getting out of bed was agony.
By April, I’d been to a doctor who’d accept cash, and another who just prescribed pain meds. But any relief was short-lived. I saw a physical therapist who couldn’t examine me because I was in too much pain. So he referred me to a spine doctor.
At this point, I knew in my gut that this was serious. I just had no idea how serious. I was now using a walker. I had to sleep in our recliner because it was too painful to sleep in our bed. John had to help with all of my personal care. I was helpless and in pain. It was taking a toll on me.
In a stroke of grace, our health insurance application came through the week of my appointment with the spine doctor. Thank God, because…
After seeing the first set of X-rays, I knew why I’d been in such pain. My spine was riddled with black spots and fractures. One vertebra was half-eaten by the cancer. CT scans and blood work later, I would learn that the rock I’d felt in my upper tailbone was a cancerous mass the size of an orange. And I would learn my diagnosis: Multiple Myeloma. Cancer.
After hearing this, the doctor left John and me alone in the room so we could process this nightmare. As the door shut, we looked at each other. Is this really happening?
My first thought was, “I don’t want to die!” I want to see my daughter graduate from nursing school. I want to see my son become a firefighter. I want to dance at their weddings. I want to know my grandchildren and babysit them and break all the rules for them. I began to cry, and John held me, crying with me.
And then the real fight began. We’re in the middle of that fight as I write this. What got us this far is something I hope you’ll take to heart: Never, Never Give Up and just accept what a doctor tells you. Always trust your gut and seek help until you have answers. I never gave up, and it has saved my life.
Since my diagnosis, I have been on a medical odyssey that, along with biopsies, PET scans, cancer medications and infusions, also included restoring my kidneys, which had been ravaged by the disease.
We also learned that the Myeloma had attacked my ribs, chest bone, shoulders, and some areas in my arms and legs. Add to that, I had a bout with Pneumonia and then a saddle blood clot across my lungs that put me in the hospital for over a week. I ended July with the discovery of a lesion at the base of my skull. What?!
But treating that lesion has to stand in line behind radiation treatments for the mass on my tailbone, and a surgical procedure on the worst of my vertebrae. Here’s the real kicker: The most challenging part of my journey hasn’t even begun. On October 11th I will undergo a Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplant.
May 28th was the start of my New Life, in fact our New Life. My cancer diagnosis was not just mine. My husband John is my co-patient. He has been by my side every step of this journey. Everything in our lives has come second to taking care of me. Taking time away from work has been a financial hardship and stressor on top of battling cancer. It has taught us a new kind of gratitude.
We are so grateful for the support from family, friends, and even some people I hardly know! I could not have gotten this far without you. Asking for help was hard for us because John and I are always the people who help others. This journey has taught us that asking for help is nothing to be ashamed of.
I am a new person since this all began. For one, at the start of 2019 I was 5’2”. After cancer’s insult to my spine, I’m now and will always be 4’11”. I’ve lost a good amount of hair. I’m told I’ll lose the rest after my transplant. I may be shorter, and I may be going bald, but I am so much tougher than I ever was. And I am so much more in love with life than I ever knew was possible.
Thank you for being there for us. We are going to need you even more in the weeks to come. But for now, please keep me and my family in your prayers.
Love, Steph