Northern Lights: My Fiftieth Column - A Milestone
This month’s edition of ‘Northern Lights’ marks the 50th column I have written for The Beacon.
Becoming a column writer at the age of 60 more than four years ago makes me a ‘late bloomer’, and it has been a source of great satisfaction to me.
Over the last four years of reading and writing at the Beacon, I have gained a lot of insight and knowledge from the comments left on my columns and from the columns of the other contributors.
To me, writing a column is a window on the world of this rare disease. It is unlikely that I could have taken part in so many discussions and learned so much about myeloma in my local area.
We all share the good and not-so good news in dealing with multiple myeloma, which I think is so educational. The good news is that there are newer, better treatments available for myeloma than ever before. The hardest part for me in dealing with my myeloma is the ongoing worry that the disease may flare up again and I will be in another dogfight for survival. In addition, the melancholy caused by losing friends to myeloma is disheartening. Along with the rest of us, I have mourned the loss of fellow columnists Arnold Goodman, Stephen Kramer, and Pat Killingsworth over the years.
As I think back and take stock of all the columns I wrote, I realize that I have covered a wide array of topics.
Of course, the treatments I received – induction therapy, auto stem cell transplant, and further treatments with Revlimid (lenalidomide) right after the transplant and when I relapsed after a 3.5-year “treatment vacation” – and the side effects of treatment have provided me with plenty of material to write about.
I also wrote about related topics, such as blood donations, reading one’s blood tests, environmental causes of myeloma, gifts for myeloma patients and caregivers, and fashion for myeloma patients.
I realized over the years that wellness plays a significant part in living with multiple myeloma, so I covered topics such as music, yoga, nutrition, exercising, and decreasing stress in one’s life.
I like to read also and enjoy the poetry posted by the other columnists and readers, so I have written about 'Summer Reading,'and my interpretations of the classic novel 'Don Quixote' and the poem 'Shall I Wear Purple?.'
Other topics I covered included caregiving, volunteering, friendship, and pacing oneself.
Some of my favorite columns were:
Losing My Hair (June 2012)
I wrote about my temporary baldness after having an autologous stem cell transplant, wearing a wig, and my realization that losing my hair had been sung about in the Beatles song ‘When I’m 64’.
Weather Report - Fog and Freezing Rain (September 2012)
The chemo brain that I suffered after the stem cell transplant was real, and I had to develop strategies to combat it.
Watching The Detectives (March 2013)
I have learned a lot about blood testing since my multiple myeloma diagnosis. Every month, my blood is scanned for many markers, including monoclonal protein and serum free light chains. If one little item is not in normal range, we will soon know about that! It was a learning process to be able to scan test results.
Meeting The Enemy (January 2014)
A visit to a research lab enabled me to look into a microscope and actually see myeloma cells. The cell nuclei were stained and they were in cross section. My nemesis! I also saw how a DNA sequencer works.
These Boots Are Made for Walking (October 2015)
Exercising has been an important part of my recovery and ongoing lifestyle. I really think that walking and other exercise have helped me in coping with the myeloma treatments.
Columns that were particularly popular among the Beacon's readers included:
Late Frost In The Foothills (February 2012)
This was my first column for the Beacon, and I received a really warm welcome from readers, which I really appreciated. I described how playing with my pipe band, hiking, and lifting heavy pots while gardening led to vertebral fractures, which eventually led to my myeloma diagnosis.
Reaching The Five-Year Milestone (July 2014)
For any cancer patient, surviving for five years is a milestone. As you can imagine, I was very grateful to have reached that milestone, and thankful for all of the good care I received.
Rip Currents (November 2014)
After starting back on treatments due to a relapse, I noticed that the Revlimid was making me tired, and dexamethasone was causing hyperactivity. This pull in two different directions reminded me of the rip currents seen at ocean beaches. You don’t want to be swimming in a rip current though!
Traveling While Receiving Treatment For Multiple Myeloma (January 2015)
I wrote about the precautions I took for a trip to Hawaii after I had restarted treatment. Readers shared their strategies for travelling while on treatment.
Being A Myeloma Patient Is A Part-Time Job (June 2015)
Between going for blood tests, appointments, and dealing with side effects, having myeloma feels like a part time (unpaid!) job to me. Add to that the need to learn more about the disease, study about the new treatments, and be involved in my support group, and a fair amount of my time is taken up with myeloma-related matters.
Passing The Six-Year Milestone (July 2015)
I was fortunate to reach another year of survival and could look back on a good year in my personal life. The marriage of our older daughter, and becoming a grandmother, were tops on my list of happy events. I passed through the six-year milestone in a cheerful mood.
Overall, I have learned so much over the past years by sharing my experiences and reading about those of other patients. I’m glad I have found a home here as a column writer.
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The quotation for this month is from by Paulo Coelho (1947 - ), a Brazilian novelist, who said: "Writing means sharing. It's part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, ideas, opinions."
Nancy Shamanna is a multiple myeloma patient and a columnist at The Myeloma Beacon. You can view a list of her columns here.
If you are interested in writing a regular column to be published by The Myeloma Beacon, please contact the Beacon team at.
In 50 columns, you have taken your readers through so many ideas and themes that have a deep quality of the lived experience and wisdom. Thank you for all your work and insight. Keep up the good work.
Nancy,
I hope you can write and I can read another 50 columns. That means you and I will still be going for another 4 plus years!!
Happy 50 Columns! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and experiences with us. May you continue to write for as long as you wish.
Hi Nancy,
Congratulations on reaching the 50 columns milestone! Thank you very much for those 50 columns. You've taught us a lot in those columns.
And what's just as cool, although we've never met in person, I almost feel like I know you (at least a little bit) from what you've shared about yourself in those columns.
I always look forward to your column each month! And to your monthly quote. I'm looking forward to reading many, many more columns from you.
Best wishes to you and to Dilip!
Mike
Congratulations Mrs. Shamanna! I love reading your columns, always so relatable and so stirring. Thank you for having been there for us. Here's to the next 50 and the next and on and on! Keep well. Keep writing.
Hi Nancy, Best wishes on your fiftieth column! Being a "northern lights" girl myself, it's nice to have you writing a column. The last time I saw you, it was when you were playing your bagpipe and leading the walkers and runners out at your annual fundraiser. You looked strong and well. God Bless you and keep you well for many years.
Hi Nancy. Thank you so much for your 50 columns. I always look out for yours. I am just behind you in time - 6 years coming up in June. I am a little older than you, will be 73 in May. Bearing in mind I am both IgA and t(4;14), I am so grateful to be reaching that milestone. Second transplant last March, I am on low maintenance Revlimid - 10 mg - having had 4 cycles of Velcade and Revlimid following transplant until mid-October. Keep up the good work and enjoy life!
Thanks to all for your kind thoughts. I thought that providing a sort of 'table of contents' to past columns might help some of the newer readers get a perspective too.
I would like to thank the Beacon staff and my wonderful editor, Maike Haehle, for all of their help and guidance with the columns.
Thank you, Nancy. It's been a pleasure working with you.
Dear Nancy,
Congratulations on this significant milestone of 50 columns. You are one of the writers who inspired me to begin writing about my own journey. I am a newcomer, only began writing this past year.
Your reflective style resonates with me on a personal level. It is encouraging for me to hear that you will reach a six-year anniversary of your diagnosis. Yet here you and I both are still living and learning.
One of the gifts of the Myeloma Beacon is joining a community of brave souls who are navigating this chronic cancer journey.
Thank you for your gift of writing to all of us.
Maureen
Thanks Maureen! I enjoy reading your column also and I think that you are reaching many readers. I hope also that we can continue to write for the Beacon, for many more columns. I wish for all of us writers and readers that that we can learn a lot from one another.
Congratulations and happy 50th!!
Nancy, thank you! I always enjoy your thoughts and inquisitiveness! For no reason discernible to me, I clicked on the link to your column about Don Quixote. I had read it when it was first published, but somehow I missed the quote at the end: "Too much sanity may be madness – and the maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be" (from Don Quixote, of course).
Not only did I miss this quote when you shared it, but I also missed it when I read Don Quixote some 50 years ago. Oddly, around the same time, I was exposed to "Plato's Cave Theory" which, at least in my mind, conveys the same idea. More recently, the same idea is presented in the "Black Hole Theory of Reality".
Since you clearly have an aptitude for metaphor, and you like to read, you might consider Byron Katie's "The Work". Same idea, but she provides tools for actually living in the reality of reality:)
Thank you again!
Thanks for the compliment, Daniel. I put a book by Byron Katie on hold at our library. The 'Plato's Cave Theory' refers to not being able to see a whole truth, just shadows cast by puppeteers on the cave wall. In a way, science is like that, using inferences to see what is beyond our direct observation too. I know that we are making progress in myeloma medicine, and I hold on to that truth! I guess that Don Quixote was referring to looking at the world thru 'rose coloured glasses', which is more comforting than looking square on sometimes.
April, I really enjoy your columns too, and learn a lot. Also enjoy your poetry ... write on!
Thanks for all of the great columns! I think you are only behind Sean Murray as far a columnist seniority. I think it is time you get the promotion to "senior columnist"!
Nancy - What a great idea for your March column! I hope that we will be able to read a column roughly four years from now based on your 100th column. Like all of columnists at The Beacon, I enjoy reading your columns because there is always something to learn or a new perspective to consider about living with this disease.
Thanks, Mark and Steve, for your nice comments also.
Mark, I am now a senior by age, and so that would make me a "senior" columnist! I enjoy reading your posts in the Beacon forum, where you share very useful scientific studies. Good luck to you!
Steve, I do enjoy reading your columns. Having once been a school teacher, and afterwards a school volunteer all thru my daughters' schooling, I respect your time as a school superintendent. I was on parent council for many years and in fact can't quite quit school volunteering! Have been on a committee where we send in school lunches for children who, due to poverty, do not have a lunch. There are about 30 people in this committee, and the commitment is only 5 lunches once a month. This is for the elementary school (I am not the organizer though).
I would like to continue writing columns for the Beacon as long as I have something relevant to write about. Of course, I cannot put a number on that, but am honoured to have written 50 columns so far.
Nancy:
50 columns – you beast, you!
When you started this journey, and after your first column, didja think you had "50" in you?
Well, you answered that question pretty dang solidly!
Go forth, and create 50 more.
Congrats.
Thanks, Nancy, for all your contributions. You have made a real difference in helping us understand the journey we make with multiple myeloma. We hope to see your column many, many years into the future.
Thanks, Rneb and PattyB, and of course I will write as many columns as I can.
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