I realized something weird the other day: I really miss donating blood.

Of all of the things multiple myeloma has taken from me, I’d never really con­sid­ered this one: I can’t be a blood donor ever again.

And that kind of stinks.

I take Revlimid (lenalidomide), which means – understandably – that I’m for­bid­den from sharing my blood with others. My blood is poisonous and dangerous and nobody wants it.

If you’ve ever taken Revlimid, you’ve taken the …

In many of my previous columns, I have stipulated that I am very fortunate with what I have experienced so far with multiple myeloma.

My condition is far less serious than that of most of the other Beacon columnists and probably the vast majority of my readers. Every form of treatment I have re­ceived so far – radiation, induction therapy, and autol­o­gous stem cell trans­plan­ta­tion – has been suc­cess­ful. Modern medicine had done its part for me.

Unfortunately, I have …

This is a special edition of "Arnie's Rebounding World." Many Beacon readers know that Arnie Goodman, who authored this column for more than three years, passed away last July. This edition of the column is written by Arnie's wife Merle, who has generously offered to share with the Beacon community the "Final Chapter" of Arnie's story.

I told Arnie that, when he died, I would write his final column.

It has taken me longer than I expected, however, as it …

My husband Dilip and I have always enjoyed traveling. We like to see new places, and since we both have family members who live in different provinces and different countries, travel has allowed us to see many places.

This routine changed suddenly when I was diagnosed with myeloma in the summer of 2009. We did not travel at all while I was undergoing in­duc­tion therapy and the stem cell transplant.

We slowly resumed our travel routine once I started low-dose …

During our recent holiday extravaganzas, I was able to spend time with lots of folks who I only see once or twice a year. Along with the frequent “you look good” greetings, I received lots of advice on how to take care of myself. This advice ran the gamut of new cures, the latest supplements I can’t live without, how “some­body’s uncle” changed his life by eating only black beans and brown rice (really!), to simple dietary suggestions.

I have …

“Stay positive!” “Be hopeful!” “Don’t worry, one of the new drugs will work!”

Friends, family members – even people we meet for the first time on the street – all try to help keep our spirits up. A bit over-the-top, sometimes, but I try and be appreciative and not blame them for their naïveté.

No matter how hard we try, it’s impossible to stay positive and hopeful all of the time. Someone who’s chronically ill is going to have a bad day. Especially since …

My wife has been known to lovingly say this about me: “If Sean isn’t any­thing else, at least he’s consistent. For the most part, that is. Some­times.”

While I blush at her glowing praise, I have come to the conclusion that consistency isn’t always such a good thing. Case in point:

I have been wrestling back and forth with multiple myeloma for over six years now and have somehow managed to consistently infuse bouts of either bronchitis or pneumonia into …