Things I'm learning about MM

 1. If you go to emergency room or visit someone in hospital with MM low counts there is a danger you can pick up extra problems. Taking husband for stitches emergency doc. said I should have been wearing a mask.(I didn't get pneumonia until I was four days in the hospital with undiagnosed problems - unsatisfactory blood gases - a year before they found MM)

2. How many people wear MM ID bracelets? Dread being involved in a road accident and someone compromising my bones or infection level hauling me around. (Also surprising how many medical people don't know about MM.)

3. When hospitalized with low counts does an MM patient share a room with general population patients? Or do they get one with a hepa filter on their own?

4. What kind of air filtering is there on an aircraft? So many fly across country for treatment; how do they protect themselves?

5. Husband shops Walmart for best spring water quality by the gallon and we save a little filling up smaller bottles for daily use.

6. Don't let Bence-Jones 24 hour urine test keep you home. Just keep bottle in plastic bag, then place in small freezer chest with small cold brick for the day and go off and do what you want taking only the plastic bag to bathroom.

7. Does anyone use a fleece collar on car safety belt to protect chemo port?

8. Does anyone use the Biotene mouth products (less alcohol and less drying) for mouth when under treatment? (toothpaste, mouth moistening gel, mouthwash, gum) How about Diflucan and Magic Mouth Wash when you get mouth sores?

9. Did you know there's a bathroom tissue with cold cream in it you can use when your derriere gets sore from chemo (especially during stemcell time in hospital, their tissue is much more abrasive.)

10. Did you know that if you meet criteria of financial hardship (even people with annual income up to $50,000 may qualify) you may be entitled to free medicine? For participating health care companies, check list of members of the Patient Assistance Programs at www.phrma.org/pap.

I'd love to hear tips from others that smooth the MM path.

Love,
Ann Collins Hill