In mid-August 2009, I received the diagnosis that I had been dreading and hoping against hope was not true: multiple myeloma.  I realized later that if my diagnosis had been put off much longer, I could have been much worse off, but at the time, it was still very upsetting. 

My husband Dilip and I started to digest a whole lot of information about multiple myeloma.  I felt like I was in a crash course of cancer education; we went through pamphlets provided at the cancer center, textbooks on cancer,…

This week marks an important milestone along my multiple myeloma journey. It has now been five years since I was first diagnosed.

Five years! Not bad, considering the median life expectancy at the time was less than four.

But that only sets the stage for the topic of my column this month.

Several days ago, a “myeloma friend” and I got together to watch a spring training baseball game. What a beautiful setting along Florida’s Gulf Coast! The Toronto Blue Jays were playing the Minnesota Twins. We had great seats…

I have had the honor of visiting with several cancer survivor and patient groups (mostly multiple myeloma-focused groups) since my treatment for myeloma began in December of 2008. Though the groups have been created for rather sobering reasons, I have found them to be warm and inviting and sources of valuable information.

While I am always happy to recount my own ongoing myeloma experiences, one of my very favorite aspects of these get-togethers is to hear the vastly unique stories that come from the group’s members. Their personal insights have…

The month of March has been a special one in my part of the country due to the unexpected record-breaking warm temperatures. This is also my birthday month during the year I turn sixty, now fondly referred to as my “sea of sixty.”

Facing the uncharted waters of multiple myeloma at age fifty-one left me unable to visualize this far-off decade. Looking ahead required imagining too many unknowns.

Two weeks ago when I brushed snow from my windshield, I also was not imagining a picnic by Lake Erie under eighty-degree…

My dog, Kodi, died suddenly the other day.  He was 15 years old.

I know, you’re asking, what does that have to do with multiple myeloma?

Let me try to explain.

When I was diagnosed in 2006, and by the time I ended up at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, I was in really bad shape.  Or so they tell me.  So much so, that I’m told that I’m fortunate to be alive today.

When I found myself unexpectedly admitted to the hospital for about two weeks while they slowly pulled…