From time to time, I will run into an acquaintance who is vaguely familiar with my situation but not really aware of all the details.  They will often ask, “Are you back to work these days?”

I usually will respond with something like. “I’m busy enough just taking care of my health.”  This is true, but an oversimplification.

The unfortunate reality is that I have become a full-time multiple myeloma patient.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I never …

Aeterna Zentaris (NASDAQ:AEZS) announced today that the Canadian company is discontinuing its Phase 3 clinical trial of perifosine for the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

An independent Data Safety Monitoring Board recommended the trial be discontinued after interim results showed that perifosine (KRX-0401) plus Velcade (bortezomib) and dexamethasone (Decadron) has not, and most likely will not, significantly extend progression-free survival com­pared to Velcade and dexamethasone alone.

The Board did not raise any safety concerns related …

Results from a Phase 1b clinical trial indicate that Kyprolis in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid and low-dose dexa­meth­a­sone is effective and safe for re­lapsed multiple myeloma patients.

Moreover, at the higher doses of Kyprolis and Revlimid tested during the trial, a greater share of patients responded to treat­ment than was the case in a trial testing Revlimid, Velcade, and dexa­meth­a­sone in a similar patient population.

In addi­tion, noticeably fewer cases of periph­eral neu­rop­athy – that is, pain, tingling, or loss of …

As a former drug and alcohol counselor, I was trained to identify and deal with the “elephant in the living room”  In other words, the painful reality that everyone would talk around but rarely face.  It might be a family member's alcohol or drug use, domestic violence, or incest. 

Denying a horrifying reality isn't anything new.  But I never expected multiple myeloma to make the top ten list! That is, no one ever wants to discuss dying from myeloma. …

She stirs awake before the alarm sounds, even before the choir of song birds welcomes the day from their crooked perches on the 100-year-old black oak.  Yawning and brushing away the sleep from her eyes, she turns to listen to him.

His breaths are deep and measured. She is grateful that the congestion from this latest round of pneumonia seems to have passed. The hacking coughs that rattle his bones and rob his much-needed rest are absent now.

Still, last …

Results of a retrospective British study add to the body of research indicating that a second stem cell transplant can be effective salvage therapy for certain relapsed multiple myeloma patients.

The British researchers found that patients who achieved a long re­mis­sion after their first transplant were more likely to have a long remis­sion after their second transplant.  This finding has been seen in previ­ous research on the issue (see related Beacon news articles 1, 2, and 3). …

This is my 27^th and last column to appear in The Myeloma Beacon.

I wrote my first column in November 2010. At that time, I was seven years past my initial diagnosis and had been in remission for five years. In that first column, I wrote about the experiment of my cracked cup, which is an analogy for figuring out how to live with my flawed but functioning body.

“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light …