Last month, we were all reminded of the role the solar system plays in our lives. The moon’s orbit crossed the path of the sun on August 21, blocking sunlight for a few minutes from reaching those parts of the earth in the path of the eclipse. In North America, many millions of people experienced a total or partial solar eclipse.

I went for a walk in the morning before the scheduled eclipse. Two ravens sat overhead in spruce trees, cawing. Could they have known that an eclipse was on its way? The shadows lengthened and small birds flew into trees. While the partial eclipse happened, the air temperatures cooled and a breeze came up.

The movement of our moon around the earth has fascinated mankind since the beginning of history. Not only did people mark time from its phases, but our tides are connected to the moon. Approximately 12 moons make up a year, thus the first calendars, and our present day calendars, are marked in ‘moons’ (months). We calculate our age in years; multiply your age by 12, and you will have many ‘moons’.

The reason I bring up this topic is that when I was newly diagnosed in 2009, median survival statistics for multiple myeloma patients were typically published using months as the unit of time. According to a Beacon article, the five-year (60-month) survival rate was about 45 percent for my age group.

Median survival, again for my age group and for a Stage 3 diagnosis, had been widely quoted as being 29 months.

At the time, I took that figure literally, and was really frightened! However, now I am a more discerning reader, and I realize that the reason the median survival was that short in 2009 was that the statistics were based on data from patients who were diagnosed more than five years previously – that is, before 2004. Neither of the two novel agents Velcade (bortezomib) or Revlimid (lenalidomide) were approved in Canada at the time for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

When you look at the population of Canada as a whole, a life expectancy of 65 years was the norm in 1945. However, the life expectancy in 2017, according to Statistics Canada, is 79 years for men and 83 years for women.

I am still 17 years away from the average life expectancy, which is one reason why I am interested in any factor in my life that may give me a better prognosis. Trying to have a healthy lifestyle, for example, is important.

Even though survival rates are now frequently reported in years, I still use months to mark many things in my life, which I think is quite normal.

For example, I am still being tested monthly for myeloma markers in my blood.

Getting blood draws is routine, and so is worrying about what the results might be. Even after eight years of being a patient, I still worry a bit. We don't have electronic results online where I live, so I won’t know the results of my tests until I talk with one of the hematology nurses on staff. I also ask for copies of any medical tests and reports when I meet with my doctor.

I write this column every month. It helps me to stay grounded in regard to my thinking about this disease, which has become a chronic condition for me. (Many thanks to the Beacon's editors for giving me this space for my thoughts, and also to the loyal readers and to those who take the time to comment on my columns.)

Other things I like to do monthly, which may or may not affect my myeloma prognosis, are to keep track of how many kilometers I walk in a month, to note what books I read, and to try to finish an item from my pile of needle arts "un-finished objects" (UFO’s; I have collected a lot of UFO’s since being an empty nester). Over the winter months, I go to a book club and write for my choir’s newsletter once a month. I also attend monthly meetings of my local myeloma support group, and needlework guild, whenever I have time to do that. I think that my monthly routines help to calm me so that I don’t worry too much.

I just hope that I have many more months to live my enjoyable life, and that you do also. I think that we all need to do whatever we can to help make this happen. In a sense, with multiple myeloma, we need to take some ownership of the disease, including spreading the word about it, and trying to steer our way around it.

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The quotation for this month is from Albert Einstein (1879-1955), a German-born theoretical physicist, who said: "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."