Multiple myeloma is very frustrating.

I know, I know. I am stating the obvious. Sometimes it just helps to say it out loud.

How can I have terminal cancer and not be sick? I mean, I see the results of the lab tests and mostly I understand them, so I know I really do have this cursed disease. However, I don’t really feel sick.

For those of you battling disease with very real – and very difficult – symptoms, this …

The day you find out you have multiple myeloma is obvi­ous­ly one of the hardest days in your life.

It is a very personal experience, but I’m sure you can remember your feel­ings of shock, fear, disbelief, or anger when you were told that you have multiple my­e­lo­ma. Some of you may have felt relief that you have put a face on the mystery.

What follows that day can have a profound im­pact on the rest of our …

Football season is coming up fast, and as a former (very former) player and lifelong fan, I can’t wait! It’s just the excuse I need to sit on the sofa in a chemo fog and not think about what else I could or should be doing.

In Hawaii, televised football games start at about 7:00 a.m. in the morning, so I can waste five hours and still have time to take the kids to the beach in the afternoon.

Amazingly, …

Do you ever wonder if you’re getting all you can get out of life? As multiple myeloma patients, this question is both timely and important to our ability to cope with this disease.

As I mentioned in my first column last month, I am a 51-year-old man who was diagnosed with early-stage multiple myeloma just over two years ago.

My experience was a little atypical in that I didn’t have any bone lesions or other signs of cancer prior …

I am VERY lucky.  My Dad taught me how to live with multiple myeloma.

Aloha, my name is Tom Shell, and I am a 51-year-old man from Hawaii who has been living with multiple myeloma for two years now.  While living in Hawaii doesn’t help with the medical aspects of myeloma, it certainly doesn’t hurt my mental outlook!

I am a new columnist at The Beacon and will tell you more about myself in future columns.  For now, given that …