Just this week, an acquaintance of mine passed away due to complications from his long-running battle against multiple myeloma.  He was treated at the same out-of-state myeloma clinic at which I was treated. We occasionally ran into each other at the local cancer center where we both received maintenance chemotherapy.

He was fifteen years my senior and had a lot of medical problems aside from myeloma. Ultimately his kidneys were destroyed, he was on dialysis, his heart was diseased, and…

Happy New Year!

From the cozy warmth and comfort of our family room in the Midwest, my wife, daughters, and I vicariously celebrated the arrival of 2012 with no less than Dick Clark, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and a million or so hale-and-hearty occupiers of New York City’s iconic Times Square.

While the nearly six ton Waterford Crystal Ball majestically dropped 77 feet during the final minute of 2011, the girls and I joined the choir of unison voices for…

“Daddy, do you remember that Christmas when you were bald?” my eight-year old daughter Lizzie recently asked me.

Until that point we had been talking about the eagles that occasionally glided in the skies above the lake next to our home in the Ozarks of southwestern Missouri.

“Uh… yes,” I chuckled, amused at her segue from bald eagles to the cue-ball that I had donned three years earlier during my chemotherapy treatments for myeloma. “Do you remember when I was…

In just a few short weeks, millions of folks across the U.S. will travel over-the-river-and-through-the-woods to gather with family and friends during one of the nation’s most beloved holidays – Thanksgiving!

My family is no different. We love Thanksgiving! I can see it now:

On Thanksgiving morning, through the magic of television, we will be whisked away to The Big Apple to clap along with rousing marching bands, to ‘oooo’ over the helium-filled superhero balloons, and to ‘ahhh’ over the…

The tiny room was spinning like an off-kilter gyroscope. I grabbed the sides of the chair with the hope that I would not fall off and further injure myself. The lights were interrogation-level bright as I closed my eyes to ward off an oncoming wave of nausea and a gnawing headache.  An unsettling buzzing near my left ear was growing in intensity as I realized that the point of no return was close at hand.

“Last chance. I don’t want…