Back in February, I wrote about a big decision that I would be facing in a couple of months – whether to go off treatment for the first time since my multiple myeloma diagnosis in June of 2013. It is now two months later, and it is decision time.

I have decided to “take the plunge” into the world of a drug holiday.

“Taking the plunge” may seem like an odd way to phrase it, since this should be …

The de­ci­sions that we must make as cancer patients are all about risk versus reward. If we are told that, without a recommended treat­ment, we will surely die, then the choice is pretty easy, almost re­gard­less of the risk.

But the de­ci­sions that we face are rarely so easy.

Among patients and care­givers, the most hotly debated myeloma treat­ment de­ci­sion is whether or not to undergo a stem cell trans­plant. There are numerous articles on the topic, and the question …

From the minute a person is diag­nosed with multiple myeloma, he or she is faced with a never-ending series of decisions. Because there are so many ways to approach treat­ment of the disease, and no consensus among experts on what approach to use, at the end of the day we must make these decisions for our­selves.

As myeloma research advances with the develop­ment of new drugs, new treat­ment combi­na­tions, and new studies on the efficacy of trans­planta­tion, these decisions become …

Sometimes I know what I am going to write about several weeks before the column is due, and other times it’s a last minute brainstorm.

For this month, the germ of an idea had been rolling around in my brain for a while. Yet, as you will see, it took an unexpected turn at the last minute.

The subject is the importance of goals.

It has been proven through at least one fairly rigorous study that positive thinking has …

I have always been fascinated by contradictions, especially in people.

I am myself a walking contradiction. Generally, I am as analytical and ob­jective as they come. Just give me the facts, do the research, and come to a conclusion. If it cannot be explained scientifically, then it does not exist.

And yet I am extremely superstitious. I won’t pick up a “lucky penny” un­less it is face up. One time I picked up a tails-up penny on my way into …

I have written before about our need for help. No cancer patient can go it alone.

One of my fellow columnists recently wrote a compelling column about her caregiver and his importance in her battle with myeloma. The primary caregiver is the most important person in our lives.

In my case, fiancée Audrey has been an equal part of the team from the very beginning. I could not have dealt with the disease if she had not been there …

So what exactly is next?

That is a question I have been asking myself quite a bit lately. It seems like for the past year or so I have been taking a mental vaca­tion from looking ahead. For an incessant planner like me, this has been a change and, to some degree, a wel­come one.

But now I find myself rolling the question around in my mind. And it arises on mul­tiple levels.

I wonder what is next with my …