Back at the end of 2018, my oncologist Tim and his partners joined a large national cancer group. Tim and com­pany had operated a busy and highly respected private cancer clinic in the Columbus, Ohio metro area for a number of years. The name remains the same on the build­ing and when the receptionist answers the phone, but Big Corporate is here to stay.

The changes with the transition were, at times, startling, ill-conceived, or both. Some changes, how­ever, …

Swiss researchers have published results of a small clin­i­cal trial testing whether nelfinavir, a drug originally used to treat AIDS, can overcome resistance to Revlimid in re­lapsed multiple myeloma patients.

The trial was motivated by pre­vi­ous research showing that nelfinavir can overcome resistance to Velcade, for a period of time, in many re­lapsed myeloma patients.

Unfortunately, the results of the more recent nelfinavir trial are not as en­cour­ag­ing as the pre­vi­ous research involving nelfinavir and Velcade. Less than a third …

A major source of op­ti­mism in the myeloma com­munity these days is the large num­ber of poten­tially very ef­fec­tive treat­ments under devel­op­ment for the dis­ease.

Increasing the num­ber of ef­fec­tive treat­ment op­tions for the dis­ease could lead to a sizable jump in sur­vival for both newly diag­nosed and re­lapsed mul­ti­ple myeloma patients.

There is, how­ever, a common theme among many of the promising inves­ti­ga­tional ther­a­pies for mul­ti­ple myeloma that could limit their ability to make as large an im­pact on …

About four and a half years ago, prior to my multiple myeloma diag­nosis, I started to have lots of health issues that were pre­vi­ously unknown to me.

The ones that initially affected me most severely were back and rib pain and breathlessness when I exercised. I had slipped when hill walking, and I thought I might have pulled a muscle or even broken a rib. I couldn’t find any reason for the breathlessness, but I thought I might have …

There cur­rently are more than 300 clin­i­cal trials ongoing around the world that are investigating treat­ments for multiple myeloma and looking for patient par­tic­i­pants. Most of these trials are exploring new myeloma ther­a­pies that have not yet been approved for use outside of clin­i­cal trials, and many of these “investigational” ther­a­pies, as they often are called, have the poten­tial to be extremely effective.

The number of new treat­ments under devel­op­ment for multiple myeloma is greater than it ever has been, …

As I have related in pre­vi­ous columns, I am cur­rently in a stable con­di­tion with a low level of myeloma protein in my blood. This status has allowed me to be off treat­ments since the beginning of the year. My multiple myeloma is closely monitored in that I get blood tests every four to six weeks. I am cur­rently basically in a "watch and wait" situation until the time when I may have to start treat­ment again.

At first I …

Someone said to me once that, in life, you can get used to any­thing. I am not sure that I agree with that state­ment. I would rather think that you can try to get used to most things.

When my body started falling apart due to multiple myeloma, I did try to adapt, but it was a struggle. I don’t think I am used to the new cir­cum­stances, even now four years post diag­nosis, but I certainly feel that I …