I noticed winter holiday decorations in the stores the day after Halloween. There is no way of escaping the presence of commercial seasonal promotions.

Yet this time of year still triggers memory and reflection.

I recall struggling to a Thanksgiving dinner a few years back with symptoms of stage IV multiple myeloma before I knew I had a disease with a name.

I had been unwell for months and clueless about my condition. It took another two weeks …

Halloween is in the air. Pumpkins, black cats, ghosts -- a witch in black stirs her cauldron of steaming brew. I am reminded that there is no magic potion for multiple myeloma. “It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions, but hard to get one single remedy,” says the Chinese proverb. Still, each of us with multiple myeloma hopes to stumble upon the perfect alchemy for survival.

There is no sparkling elixir to pour from a bottle -- living is …

Lou Ganim’s most recent article in his Beacon column “Birds In Spring” looks at the reactions of others when they learn that you have cancer. It reminded me how a “coming out” process has unfolded for me in the last few years.

My diagnosis eight years ago was not a quiet doctor’s office discovery. After weeks of frequently calling in sick to work and little social life, an emergency room visit left me no time or space to hide. …

A friend recently commented on the difficult year I endured eight years ago when myeloma entered my world. I hesitated when I heard this. “Don’t tell me that cancer was a gift,” she said.

Myeloma was more of a puzzle than a gift. All the puzzle pieces were tossed up into the air. Myeloma called upon me to wake up and become brave in order to put myself back together.

Myeloma also added a veil of specialness to my life. I …

We are all here because of advances in myeloma treatments. We have been given time. Some say we “buy” it—exchange the experience of chemical therapy for time to adapt and grow in the shadow of myeloma. Illness is pushed back so that we can carry on our lives.

I have recently encountered someone who is researching patient survival stories in an effort to write a book that offers hope for the terminally ill, a prognosis that is degrading and not …

June is the 7th anniversary of my autologous stem cell transplant. Dates assigned to diagnosis, transplant, remission, and relapse take on special significance to multiple myeloma patients, but the transplant is often regarded as a kind of rebirth—a new birthday.

What happens when we unwind our idea of who we are to include the ongoing presence of myeloma? When I lay in the hospital bed 7 years ago, I became a different version of myself. Imagining a future this far …

Who are you when you stop doing? Leaving the shelter of a healthy physical body for one threatened by multiple myeloma led me to stop doing. Then I found myself doing different things—medical appointments, hospitals, and treatments. Stepping back from “doing” into “being” helped me heal.

Quiet and private surroundings seemed to compensate for the uncertainty of my disease. There are no problems or illness in the stillness of the present moment of now—until movement of body and mind allows …