Sometimes multiple myeloma makes you do strange things.

With a yellow No. 2 pencil and a tablet of Big Chief paper in hand, I began sketching this December’s Myeloma Beacon column while sitting on my covered back porch overlooking a bit of the frosty Ozark woods.

Despite the 30 °F chill and a biting northerly breeze, I was nonetheless comfortable and quite content.

After all, I was within arm’s reach of a mug of steaming hot cocoa laced with cinnamon …

Initial results from a Phase 1 clin­i­cal trial show prom­ise for SAR650984 as a thera­peutic option for heavily pre­treated multiple myeloma patients.

SAR650984 is one of several poten­tial new anti-myeloma agents for which clin­i­cal results were first pre­sented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting last week.

The results were pre­sented by Dr. Joseph Mikhael from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, who told The Beacon, “This drug was hands down the most promising new agent at ASH for …

I had to do a lot of driving earlier this month. I had four days of mediation training packaged in two-day blocks with a weekend in between. That took me up to northwest Ohio and back twice in a short period of time. To keep myself company, I turned on the car radio and let it serenade me down the road.

It’s the holiday season and the airwaves are saturated with Christmas music. The sacred songs, the secular songs, and …

This Monday was the third day of the 2013 American Society of Hema­tol­o­gy (ASH) annual meeting, which was held in New Orleans.

More than any other day of the conference, Monday was packed with im­por­tant myeloma pre­sen­ta­tions, from 7:00 in the morning until almost 8:00 in the eve­ning.

This ASH update will summarize the oral pre­sen­ta­tion sessions about treat­ment-related myeloma studies that were held Monday morning. An ASH update that was pub­lished on Wednesday focused on the sessions that …

Monday was the third day of this year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).  The day was filled with oral presentation sessions from early in the morning until into the evening.

In the afternoon and early evening, there were six oral presentation sessions devoted solely to multiple myeloma and a number of other myeloma-related presentations scattered about the afternoon.  The topics of these presentations ranged from the biology of myeloma to treat­ment options for newly diag­nosed, re­lapsed and …

How are you?

Ah, one of the simplest questions in the world.  A common part of civilized speech, asked dozens of times a day.  It’s thrown around everywhere.

A quick reply of “Fine, and you?” and move on with your world.

As a cancer patient, I have become increasingly perplexed with this question and how best to answer it.  I am certain that we all face the same dilemma.

It is, of course, a loaded question, and the real answer …

Today is the third day of this year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).  Here at The Beacon, we refer to today as “Myeloma Monday” because the day is packed full of important myeloma presentations, more than any other day of the meeting, from the early morning until the close of the day.

This ASH update describes all of the myeloma-related sessions that have and will take place today.  Additional updates to be published later today and tomorrow …