As I write this blog, I’m sitting in the cancer center, waiting to get my monthly maintenance therapy to keep my myeloma at bay. I’m probably one of the last people at my center who still gets Darzalex (daratumumab) by intravenous (IV) infusion, rather than by subcutaneous (sub-Q) injection. Partly my aversion to switching to the sub-Q version is because I’m a scientist who has spent her career studying protein misfolding, and for some reason, the idea of injecting a large concentration of a protein biologic reminds me of the many times my proteins have aggregated in the lab. I know that my concern is completely unfounded given that every therapy that makes it into the clinic goes through rigorous clinical trials before FDA approval. Yet, it’s a good reminder that all patients have very personal reasons for working with their myeloma specialist to choose the therapies that are best for them. The other reason though that I continue to receive my treatment by IV infusion is that I truly enjoy my time in the infusion chair. This time waiting in the cancer center has become a time to slow down, to pause, and to just savor being in the moment. I always spend this time doing something that brings me joy, like crocheting, reading, journaling, or napping, or even doing meaningful work, like writing this blog.
In my faith community, we’re currently in the season of Advent, four weeks in late November and December where we wait with anticipation for the miracle of Christmas. This quiet season of hope, peace, love, and joy is my favorite season of the whole year, and as a family, we pause and hold off on the busyness of the holiday season as long as possible. We light the candles on the Advent wreath at dinner, and we just enjoy sharing our meals together and being present with each other as a family. With three of my four children, I was heavily pregnant during this season, and I anticipated their births with hope and joy, and also with a lot of waiting and worrying. Those years waiting for the birth of my children were especially precious because I had initially miscarried twice at the very end of my first trimester. I named those angel babies Hope and Joy because that was what I had lost and was trying so hard to get back. Learning to wait with hope and joy has also sustained me as a myeloma patient. There is a lot of waiting that happens when you’re learning to live with myeloma – waiting for labs to come back, waiting to see your myeloma specialist, and waiting in the infusion center for your medicines and therapies. There’s also a lot of worrying that happens too – worrying that the timing of your visits to the cancer center will conflict with other important life events, worrying that those treatments might not work, worrying that even when all is going smoothly relapse may be just around the corner. Living with multiple myeloma, or any cancer for that matter, is learning to find hope and joy in the gift of each day.
I am also eagerly waiting for the 65th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting (ASH) meeting to begin this Friday. For the 3rd year in a row, I’ll be blogging about new therapies in the pipeline for multiple myeloma. In 2021, at the 63rd ASH Annual Meeting, I learned that the myeloma community was eagerly awaiting the approval of two new CarT cell therapies, which occurred in 2022. Then in 2022, at the 64th ASH Annual Meeting, I learned that the myeloma community was eagerly awaiting the approval of three new bispecific antibodies, which all received FDA approval earlier in 2023. This week at ASH, I can’t wait to learn more about the optimal timing of these new therapies in the treatment landscape, as well as about new therapies that are still in the pipeline. Research takes a lot of time, so it’s incredible to see that many of these highly anticipated therapies are now available to myeloma patients in the clinic. This science innovation has been worth the wait, and while there’s still much work to be done, there is a lot of reason for myeloma patients to be filled with hope and joy!
— Jill Zitzewitz, PhD
Follow me on X @JillZitzewitz
Support Group Website: Central MA Multiple Myeloma Support Group
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