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 disappointing.

When I first sat down to write this column, I was going to generalize, listing things all multiple myeloma patients could be thankful for. Sadly, it didn't take me long to figure out that wasn't going to work. We’re all so different.

A number of multiple myeloma patients from around the world will lose their battle with myeloma today. Many more will be forced to endure deeply rooted bone pain—or face another day of dialysis and chemotherapy side effects.

But even with our struggles, most of us have much to be thankful for.

So here is my list of things I'm thankful for this year:

• For my loving wife and caregiver, Pattie
• For my house full of rescued animals—even when my dog, Finnegan, sheds his white fur like snow and the cats say hello by scratching on the corner of the couch
• I'm thankful that the chemotherapy I have used for almost four years, Revlimid ^[1] (lenalidomide), is still working—and that it hasn't caused me to loose my hair!
• That my M-Spike only rose slightly over the past three months
• That I haven't been on dexamethasone for several years
• That I haven't needed a stem cell transplant—yet
• For the friendships I have developed with members of my support group in Stillwater, Minnesota and Hernando County, Florida
• That Tylenol and oxycodone are still able to numb my pain
• For the practically painless “stick” from my oncology nurse last week as she prepared my bisphosphonate IV
• That my insurance company continues to pay for my medical care as promised
• Ditto for Social Security Disability
• That my peripheral neuropathy is only inconvenient and not painful—and that my neuropathy drugs help with that, too
• For my all my readers, who—whether they know it or not—help me at least as much as I help them.

Have a safe, healthy Thanksgiving! Feel good and keep smiling! Pat