1 symptom leads to dad's cancer diagnosis: "I was like, 'Wait, what?'"
Eric Dillon thought the pain in his shoulder was a minor injury. It took two years to get the real answer.
When Eric Dillon started feeling pain in his shoulder, he chalked it up to a strained rotator cuff.
A visit to an orthopedic doctor seemed to confirm it. Physical therapy and stretching helped. For the most part, the pain faded. Over the next two years, he'd feel the occasional discomfort, but changing his sleep position or reducing his activity level would fix it.
The aches became a part of daily life, but then he felt a burst of "tremendous pain" while doing yard work at his Houston home in May 2024. Dillon went back to the orthopedist. An MRI showed something concerning. Dillon was referred to an oncologist, having "no idea" what that would entail.
"I walked in, and she was like, 'You know why you're here?' I was like, 'I've got a referral from another doctor to see you,'" Dillon remembered. "She was like, 'I'm an orthopedic oncologist ... I do cancer.' I was like, 'Wait, what?'"
Tests confirmed that Dillon had multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. Within minutes, Dillon's wife had made him an appointment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. The couple met with doctors there days later. New tests confirmed the diagnosis and led to a treatment plan. Dillon was surprised to learn that his pain had been an early warning sign.
Multiple myeloma is a cancer that affects plasma cells, said Dr. Hearn Cho, an oncologist and the chief medical officer of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, who did not treat Dillon. The cancerous cells can impair normal blood formation, causing anemia, kidney damage and increased calcium levels. The disease can also damage the hard part of the bone. That was what was causing Dillon's shoulder pain. Cho said it's not unusual for multiple myeloma to be misdiagnosed as an injury.