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I was diagnosed with neuropathy three years before I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. It started in my feet. My toes began to feel numb, as if I had stuck them in an ice bath. They felt tingly and uncomfortable and soon began to hurt. Walking became an effort – every time my feet hit the ground, a stinging, burning sensation would shoot up my entire leg, making me move slower and more carefully. Sometimes, my feet would just be numb, but they’d be so numb that I couldn’t feel where they were in relation to my body. Even now, I have a hard time balancing despite my special shoes with the extra thick, wide soles and the gel inserts. Honestly, this old body can’t tell the difference between my walking with or without shoes on – I’m wobbly either way, and sometimes those dang things make my feet feel worse.
By the time I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, the neuropathy had already spread up my legs and had started in my hands. Bumping into anything gave me horrible pain, and it felt like I had a continuous ulcer running the length of my leg, from the middle of my thigh to my toes. I decided not to try chemotherapy or undergo a blood transfusion. I’m too old and too weak, and I think either one of those would kill me before this cancer will. I also can’t imagine what else that chemo would do to my body; if it gives some people neuropathy, what would it do to my already damaged nerves?
For now, I make do the best that I can. My shoes and my walker help. My granddaughter bought me a pair of gloves with some little grippers on them, which helps me be able to hold my cup of coffee every morning, since I can’t feel it otherwise. I’m not all that sensitive to hot or cold temperatures like some people are. My hands and feet do what they want to, I guess – they either burn or they feel numb.