We all realize good nutrition is important. But like everyone else, multiple myeloma patients are often too busy to eat well all of the time.

And even if we do eat well, nutritional science teaches us there are advantages to additional supplementation.

No problem, right? Head off to the health food store and begin loading-up?

How about extract from exotic berries from the Amazon, touted to contain super concentrated anti-oxidants?

Or how about supplements designed to lesson …

A majority of multiple myeloma patients experience some kind of bone involvement. In other words, myeloma has negatively affected their bones. Lesions, a fancy word for holes, in and around the bone are common. So is a more general “osteoporosis”-like weakening of the bone.

Those of you who are fortunate enough not to have had multiple myeloma hurt your bones should take advantage of your good fortune by engaging in a systematic and rigorous exercise program.

I know, I know—who …

Just over four years ago, a very good friend of mine, named Gene, dropped by my real estate office on a Saturday morning.

My partner Bruce and I greeted Gene warmly. A fellow Realtor, Gene had committed to joining our real estate team later that year.

Unfortunately, we soon discovered Gene had not stopped in to talk shop. No, Gene was on his way home from seeing an oncologist. Gene had just learned he had prostate cancer.

To make …

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of my fellow multiple myeloma patients, their friends, families, and caregivers a happy Thanksgiving!

If you think about it, Thanksgiving is an ideal holiday. Rich or poor, young or old, healthy or sick with cancer, everyone has something to be thankful for. And it is a relatively non-denominational holiday.

But it isn't perfect. It is a difficult day to be alone. And yet large family gatherings can be overwhelming, stressful, or …

“You have multiple myeloma.” I would guess you didn't even know what multiple myeloma was when you heard those fateful words some time ago.

But chances are, if you are reading this column, you moved past that uninformed point some time ago.

As a newly diagnosed patient, you go from knowing nothing about your cancer to being an expert in a matter of months. Continue along the learning curve I just described, and your understanding may exponentially expand to the …

One week ago, I celebrated an important milestone: I have survived 43 months with multiple myeloma.

What was so important about 43 months? That was the median life expectancy at the time I was diagnosed.

It is only human nature to immediately ask the question, “Doctor, how long do I have to live?” after you learn you have cancer.

My Mayo Clinic oncologist, Dr. Steven Zeldenrust, was forthright and honest with me when I asked him that question back in …

More and more studies are showing that using maintenance therapy after a patient achieves a complete or very good partial response delays progression of multiple myeloma.

In this case, disease progression is the amount of time it takes for your multiple myeloma to return after it responds to treatment, also frequently called relapse. Maintenance therapy can be used following a stem cell transplant or after using novel therapies during the initial phase of treatment.

The jury is still out whether …