Back in November, 2014, I wrote a column about the book Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. It is a book that many of you have read; it has also been discussed in other columns by other Beacon columnists. I still encourage lots of people (well, everyone, pretty much) to read it.

Right now, this book and my response to it are very much on my mind.

I just finished my first eight weeks of treatment with Darzalex (dara­tu­mu­mab). I …

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 …

As I wrote earlier this summer, my wife and I moved from our home of 26 years to a new house a few miles north. The move not only meant a new place to rest our heads, but we also joined the apparently growing trend of multi­gener­ational living, having purchased the house with our adult daughter.

Starting a new home with my daughter is exciting. It will mean some fun lifestyle changes and many projects to develop a living …

It was quite a surprise last month to see multiple myeloma mentioned on the front page of the New York Times. It was even “above the fold,” making it big news. Multiple myeloma usually only gets referred to in the paper in obit­u­aries, and then only rarely.

This mention of myeloma occurred in an article on the approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of an immunotherapy treatment to fight a form of leukemia. It was …

It seems as if in recent years I've spent a lot of my life waiting. It began before I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and it has continued ever since. I would imagine that this is the sort of waiting that is familiar to many readers of The Myeloma Beacon.

I remember pre-diagnosis, when I felt ill all the time, I was waiting and waiting for some doctor to work out what was wrong with me and help me to get …

The dictionary defines ‘perfectionism’ as the refusal to accept any standard short of perfection.

So what would the meaning of perfectionism be in the case of someone with multiple myeloma?

I think that one aspect of perfectionism in multiple myeloma could be a desire to be in a stringent complete response – that is, not having any blood test or bone marrow biopsy results that would indicate the presence of multiple myeloma.

This is an admirable goal, but is it …

As I packed all the essential items I need for my sprint triathlon last week­end, I reflected on what I would need for courage for a successful com­ple­tion.

My cues for courage are not objects like a bike or a wet suit. My cues are real people. Real people who embody what it is to be brave.

One trait of courage is the ability to “feel fear, and yet choose to act.”

I witness this fear and bravery in both …