Margaret’s Corner

I am a U.S. citizen, 46 years old, married to an Italian, and I live in Florence, Italy. In 1999, I was diagnosed with Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance or MGUS, for short, of the IgG k type. My family doctor did not make it clear to me what MGUS entailed, and that it was important for me to have blood tests done every six months. Back then, I had two teaching jobs (teaching Italian in the morning and English in the afternoon!), so I had no extra time to do any research about MGUS. I promptly forgot all about it.

Until about four years later.

In 2003, another routine (so I thought) blood test showed that the amount of this abnormal protein in my blood had increased. My GP finally made the implications of MGUS clear to me, and sent me to a haematologist at Florence’s main hospital, Careggi, which has a well-known Haematology Center. I started looking up MGUS on the Internet. I soon had a clear picture of what might lie ahead unless the amount of paraprotein in my blood remained stable.

But it didn’t.

It kept increasing. Slowly but steadily.

My MGUS finally progressed to MM, or multiple myeloma, in late 2005. I received the MM diagnosis on December 30, based on a BMB (bone marrow biopsy) done in November. At that time, 50 % of my bone marrow was compromised. Even though I had been expecting this progression, I admit that I was shocked to see the words multiple myeloma printed out on the test result.

Not one of my happiest moments.