I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma nearly 10 years ago. I remember a doctor telling me it was an “exciting time” for myeloma.

At the time, I felt the exact opposite of excited, but now I can understand what he meant. Over the last decade, many new myeloma treatments have been ap­proved and even more are on the way. Life expectancy and op­ti­mism has in­creased.

Although there is never a “good” time to get cancer, I know I’ve been …

I’ve written before about my Aunt Margie. Margie died from an aggressive case of myeloma, two years ago last month. She lived just a year and a half past her diagnosis.

I miss Margie, and I think about her all of the time. I’ll have moments where I’ll think, “I need to tell Margie about this,” or “I need to ask her about that”, and then I have to stop and catch my breath because, of course, I can’t …

Last week, my daughter came home from an over­night stay at Girl Scout camp with a runny nose. I chalked it up to al­lergies triggered by a night in the woods, but by the next night she was run­ning a fever.

The pediatrician reassured me it was just a virus and it would run its course in a few days. It did, but in the mean­time, she spent a couple of days on the couch watching the Disney Channel.

Like …

I have a 10-year-old daughter, which means I’ve seen the Disney Channel movie High School Musical many, many times. I’m not sure how many times; I’ll just say I’ve seen it more times than any mentally healthy person really should.

If you don’t have a 10-year-old living in your house, I’ll sum up the plot: The movie is about a group of high school students who are all in a musical.

At the very end of the movie, they decide …

I knew nothing about multiple myeloma until I’d been diagnosed with it.

I’d never even heard of it. Nobody I knew had ever heard of it. I certainly had never heard of another person who’d been diagnosed with it. I was alone and scared, frantically Googling to find out more.

Over the years, I’ve frequently needed to explain the disease to people and to correct those who confuse myeloma with melanoma. I’m sure this is a common experience for most …

I have exciting news, everyone! I’m old!

I turned 40 earlier this month. When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma at age 30, I often wondered if I’d ever see 40.

In fact, during the first few scary years after my diagnosis, I pretty much assumed I wouldn’t.

Forty seemed so old and far away. When you’re diagnosed with a fatal disease at age 30, you don’t really worry about getting old. You don’t plan for anything that’s 10 years …

When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2005, my specialist told me that my disease fell into the category of smoldering myeloma.

This meant that, while I had abnormal myeloma cells in my bone marrow and abnormal protein in my blood, the myeloma wasn’t yet harming me. I didn’t have any other symptoms, such as anemia, bone damage, or kid­ney involvement. I’d have my blood tested every few months, but I didn’t need any treatment.

My first reaction to …