Italian researchers recently found that most myeloma patients are able to collect sufficient stem cells after a short course of induction therapy with Revlimid, allowing them to undergo two consecutive stem cell transplants.

“Revlimid can be used safely before stem cell mobilization, provided that we use only four courses before mobilization and cyclophosphamide is used to mobilize,” said Dr. Antonio Palumbo, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Torino in Italy.

The current standard treatment …

Last week I promised to keep everyone updated as I prepared to undergo my first autologous stem cell transplant.

Despite a few close calls—like a final insurance approval that didn’t arrive until 5:01 p.m. the day before I was scheduled to be admitted—I am sitting here as a stem cell transplant patient in Moffitt Cancer Center’s brand new Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit.  And I’m happy to say that I’m alive and doing well.

On Tuesday night, I received my …

According to a recent Greek study, elderly myeloma patients who relapse early after receiving therapy with novel agents have a significantly shorter overall survival time compared to patients who remain in remission longer. In addition, results showed that a poorer quality of response to treatment with novel agents is associated with early relapse in these patients. 

“This study confirms other data that a [better quality of] response argues for a good outcome in patients with myeloma,” said Dr. Edward Libby …

June is the 7th anniversary of my autologous stem cell transplant. Dates assigned to diagnosis, transplant, remission, and relapse take on special significance to multiple myeloma patients, but the transplant is often regarded as a kind of rebirth—a new birthday.

What happens when we unwind our idea of who we are to include the ongoing presence of myeloma? When I lay in the hospital bed 7 years ago, I became a different version of myself. Imagining a future this far …

As my last column was published, I was in Quito, Ecuador, preparing to journey to the Galapagos Islands the following day. It was a trip planned before my sister Deana was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and even if I had been wise enough to purchase travel insurance, I doubt it would have worked in these circumstances.

For some reason, there are those I encounter who don’t think that a sibling counts as an “immediate” family member. How wrong they are. …

A group of leading myeloma specialists, known as the International Myeloma Working Group, recently collaborated to develop guidelines for the prevention of infections in multiple myeloma patients. The group recommends that patients receive inactivated vaccines for the flu, hepatitis B, and polio as early in the disease as possible. Patients at high-risk of developing infections can be given medications to prevent infections.

Dr. Elias Anaissie of the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy at the University of Arkansas for Medical …

I completed my grueling, pre-stem cell transplant testing this week.

I also learned I am right on schedule to undergo my autologous stem cell transplant (using my own stem cells) beginning Monday.

The plan is for me to stay on the Moffitt Cancer Center Transplant Unit for one or two weeks. At that point, I would be moved to outpatient housing nearby for an additional two or three weeks, as I start my long road to recovery.

I hope …