Multiple Myeloma

[RadialGal]

Greetings all.

I am hoping to hear from one of the docs on this forum. I posted earlier about what I believed to be costochondritis with my Airline Captain Husband. It turned out to be Multiple Myeloma. He is now about to start an agressive Cancer Treatment program and is obviously grounded. My question is, since Multiple Myeloma is a non-cureative cancer, will he ever fly again? I imagine no, since he will always need to be on some kind of treatment program. Thank you in advance for your answers. Give your loved ones a kiss and be grateful for your medical, whatever class you hold. You never know how quick it can be taken.

RadialGal

 

[dbahn]

Sorry about that news.

Multiple myeloma is treatable but probably not curable and my understanding is that it can be compatible with a Special Issuance. I would defer to one of the AMEs on the best recommendation on how to deal with it, especially as an airline captain, and he should definitely not deal with the FAA until he has a good understanding of his options, including Basic Med if he elects not to try to continue professional flying. There area lot of factors to consider and no rush to sort them all out.

 

[lbfjrmd]

when this illness is in remission, the applicant and they will qualify for a special issuance, save his life now and then apply

 

[Skip Miller]

My wife had/has multiple myeloma. As Dr. Lou (message above) suggests, remission is possible. She underwent about a year’s worth of intravenous infusions on a weekly schedule and came through it in remission. None of the hair loss typically associated with cancer treatment happened.

Note that the cancer is not gone. In my wife’s case, there were two protein markers in her blood that they look for. One was driven to zero by the treatment, and the other went from 7+ to 0.3 or so - and I can’t remember exactly what. After a few months more of treatment, that number wouldn’t budge. The Doc said it was possible this residual was being caused by the treatment, not the disease so they decided to declare victory (i.e., remission) and watch it closely.

That’s where we are today, almost a year later.

Problems I foresee for you:

You are going to need good health insurance. Some of the infusions used cost multiple MMUs. Like $15 to $20 MMUs per month.

(and in this case MMU is a Medical Monetary Unit, equal to $1,000.)

Scheduling may be a problem. Assuming your husband could get a SI, scheduling around a weekly infusion schedule would be problematic. But not impossible.

Keep your (and his) spirits up. This may be the end of his professional flying career, but a good positive attitude and a home full of love will make the best of it.

I do wish you both the best!

-Skip

 

[bbchien]

Bone marrow transplantation as treatment, is a routine, though “high requirements” SI. I got one of those for a pilot who was “So very done” with his Sickle cell disease.

It’s published in FASMB IIRC in 2013……

 

[Skip Miller]

Bone marrow transplantation as treatment, is a routine…

as Dr. Bruce says, Bone Marrow transplantation is a possible treatment, depending on a lot of variables. My wife’s MD team extracted her bone marrow and stored in a blood bank for potential future use.

it is amazing to me, what medical science can do today.

-Skip

 

[dbahn]

as Dr. Bruce says, Bone Marrow transplantation is a possible treatment, depending on a lot of variables. My wife’s MD team extracted her bone marrow and stored in a blood bank for potential future use.

it is amazing to me, what medical science can do today.

-Skip

I had a patient, a personal friend as well, with plasmacytoma (the solitary form of multiple myeloma with slower progression) who elected the bone marrow transplantation option with its associates risks. Unfortunately he developed leukemia from the treatment and died from the treatment instead of the disease.

So as with any medication or other treatment you need to manage the risk/benefit factors in what you choose to do, both medically and with respect to your daily life. It's often not an easy decision.