Multiple Myeloma requires a life-long low-level chemo maintenance regimen. Neuropathy is a known side effect associated with chemotherapy treatment (though overwhelmingly occurring as a result of diabetes). Neuropathy is damage or dysfunction of one or more nerves that typically results in numbness, tingling, muscle weakness and pain which frequently starts in your hands and feet. When at its worst, for those poor soles that are afflicted, the Nasty Neu can deliver a disagreeable burning and/or challenging itch. Not to mention the potential escalation which can lead to difficulties walking and a higher risk for falls.
I have always described my Neuropathy as feeling like sand in my shoes. It started out on the ball of my right foot shortly after post-Stem Cell maintenance chemo began in earnest, and has slowly gotten sandier. I estimate that about a googol and a half has now washed up on (under) the front half/toes of my right foot. And the left foot is taking on the earliest manifestations as well, though much less fuzziness and a very slow progression. Here too, no pain or resulting ambulatory issues.
There are schools of thought which would theorize that if/when I were to stop my chemotherapy, there is a chance that the "nerve damage" from the neuropathy (at that stage) could begin to reverse. Medical science is a bit squishy about committing to this potential turnaround, so I'm not counting on that possible positive prognosis too much. But when the time comes that I do stop the chemo (likely as the result of a curative stem cell transplant, which is the treatment wave of the near-term future), then we'll see if I am one of the patients who does attain reversal of the symptoms and am able to wash the sand out of my shoes.
Fortunately for me, once again I have dodged a bullet of sorts. I am far from escalating to the bad balance side of the locomotion ledger of life. What a long, wonderfully strange trip it is becoming. As Aunt Janice used to say, “ . . . and that’s a gooood thing.” (May her memory and diligently captured family photos be a blessing).
