Mark Pouley's Archive

Mark Pouley is a multiple myeloma patient and writes a monthly column for The Myeloma Beacon. Mark was diagnosed in March of 2015 at the age of 53. He has undergone initial induction therapies, had an autologous stem cell transplant, and continues on maintenance therapy. Mark and his loving wife have four adult children and three adorable grandchildren. He works and lives in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In addition to his full-time employment, Mark is a nature and landscape photographer, and he and his family are avid fans of the Seattle Sounders FC.

Mark Pouley has written 28 article(s) .

[ by | Dec 7, 2017 6:55 pm | 6 Comments ]
A Northwest Lens On Myeloma: Being The “Good” Patient

I recently spent a few days visiting a relative in the hospital. Fortunately, all is well for her, but observing intense medical care as the visitor for a change gave me time to think about what it means to be a “good patient.”

While considering this issue and subsequently writing this column, I learned that the notion of “good” or “bad” patients is the subject of some debate and schol­ar­ship in the medical community.

For instance, in a study of …

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[ by | Nov 9, 2017 1:04 pm | 10 Comments ]
A Northwest Lens On Myeloma: Hope And Intellect

My multiple myeloma diagnosis chal­lenges a funda­mental way that I’ve lived my life. I’ve always been one to use my knowledge and logic to take control and manage events.

Obviously, as patients, we simply don't control as much of our future as we once did. The disease is the primary in­flu­encer, and while we have choices about treat­ment options, we don't really control those either. I've struggled with the feeling that I've lost control, but that is not the challenge …

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[ by | Oct 5, 2017 6:44 pm | 17 Comments ]
A Northwest Lens On Myeloma: Little Reminders

When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, I wasn’t experi­enc­ing any obvi­ous symptoms of the disease. I’ve also avoided substantial side effects from treat­ment. Even so, I am impacted by the disease and treat­ment, and I thought it might be useful, especially for newly diag­nosed patients, if I shared my experi­ences.

For much of my adult life, I’ve had “back issues” so I didn’t really think much of the back pain I was experi­enc­ing prior to my myeloma diagnosis. I’d …

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[ by | Sep 11, 2017 4:53 pm | 4 Comments ]
A Northwest Lens On Myeloma: Building For The Future

As I wrote earlier this summer, my wife and I moved from our home of 26 years to a new house a few miles north. The move not only meant a new place to rest our heads, but we also joined the apparently growing trend of multi­gener­ational living, having purchased the house with our adult daughter.

Starting a new home with my daughter is exciting. It will mean some fun lifestyle changes and many projects to develop a living …

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[ by | Aug 4, 2017 2:59 pm | 11 Comments ]
A Northwest Lens On Myeloma: Celebrating My New Birthday

Happy Birthday to me!

On July 22, 2016, the medical team at my transplant center infused my own stem cells back into my body. Only two days before, I received a massive and otherwise deadly dose of the chemotherapy drug melphalan. This was day one of my recovery from that treatment and, hopefully, an end to the myeloma cells that invaded my body.

I’m pleased to announce on this anniversary that all reports are positive.

It amazes me that it’s …

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[ by | Jun 10, 2017 7:06 am | 7 Comments ]
A Northwest Lens On Myeloma: What’s In A Number?

April marked nine months since my autologous stem cell transplant and the beginning of another cycle of maintenance therapy.

Complete labs are drawn at the beginning of each treatment cycle. As usual, I received an email a few days later that included the latest lab results. I im­medi­ately scrolled to the bottom of the report to look at my M-spike. Instead of num­bers, this time I saw letters: “Too small to quantify.”

That was the first time since my diagnosis two …

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[ by | May 3, 2017 5:05 pm | 11 Comments ]
A Northwest Lens On Myeloma: Making Room To Grow

Apparently I’m not content to let life settle into a routine. As I wrote last month, I’ve entered a very happy holding pattern with my disease and maintenance therapy, but life is never that simple.

We’ve decided to sell our family home of 26 years and move. The move will be short in distance (only a few miles north), but far in change of life. The process has consumed a great deal of my time, energy, and attention.

We raised …

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