Several years ago, well before I had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, we had a family friend who was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer.  He was one of these relentlessly upbeat, positive people, and of course, he approached his disease in the same way.

Despite the prognosis and all appearances to the contrary, he refused to accept any outcome except that he was going to “beat this thing.”   Now I cannot speak to what he was secretly thinking or …

Results from a recent retrospective study conducted in France indicate that long-term treat­ment with Revlimid plus dex­a­meth­a­sone is effective in delaying dis­ease progression in relapsed multiple myeloma patients.

Among patients treated with Revlimid (lenalidomide) plus dex­a­meth­a­sone (Dec­a­dron) for at least two years, almost all (96 percent) responded to treat­ment, with 74 percent achieving at least a very good partial re­sponse.

Patients who received treat­ment for at least three years were significantly more likely to have not yet …

I won’t bury the lead.  Last week I learned that I’d relapsed yet again.  The news was unexpected.  After all, my monoclonal protein (M-spike) had been stable at a low 0.2 g/dL for over a year.  Now it had jumped to 0.5 g/dL.

Most multiple myeloma patients are asymptomatic with M-spikes a lot higher than 0.5 g/dL.  But that isn’t a good number for me.  I developed bone lesions at that number following my stem cell transplant several years ago. …

Results from a recent Italian Phase 1/2 clinical trial indicate that the com­bi­na­tion of Pomalyst, cyclo­phos­pha­mide, and prednisone is effective and safe in re­lapsed and re­frac­to­ry multiple myeloma patients.

Overall, 51 percent of patients in the trial responded to the treat­ment, and the me­di­an pro­gres­sion-free survival time was 10.4 months. The me­di­an overall survival had not been reached yet; however, 69 percent of patients were alive one year after starting treat­ment.

The study participants had previously been treated with a …

Now you know that multiple myeloma is a blood cancer, and I know that multiple myeloma is a blood cancer, but try telling that to my aching bones.

While I’m no stranger to myeloma’s common calling-cards of fatigue from anemia, the bruises and bleeding caused by having too few platelets, blood clots, and various infections such as pneumonia, it’s my skeletal system that seems to vie for center stage attention more often than not.

At my November 2008 stage III …

Last March, after an unsuccessful three-month period on a clinical trial of a monoclonal antibody, I began a new regimen of Pomalyst (pomalidomide, Imnovid) and the steroid dexamethasone (Decadron).

After a bumpy beginning with some dexamethasone-related side effects, things went very well. My wife and I referred to it as a “honeymoon” interval – we knew it would end, but it was fantastic while it lasted.

I had a great summer. I swam several times a week, and …

Each year, more and more multiple myeloma patients must consider an issue which, in years past, was not even viewed as relevant to people with myeloma.

That issue is pregnancy.

It is true that the co-occurrence of multiple myeloma and pregnancy re­mains relatively rare, given that myeloma typically affects older in­di­vid­u­als.  The median age at myeloma diagnosis is 69 years, and only 4 percent of my­e­lo­ma cases occur in in­di­vid­u­als younger than 45 years.

Likewise, only about 30 cases of …