This article is the second in The Beacon’s ‘preview’ series about mye­lo­ma re­search that will be pre­sented at the American Society of Hema­tol­o­gy (ASH) meet­ing in early December.

Abstracts for the ASH presentations are now available; these abstracts contain pre­lim­i­nary data, and updated data will be presented at the meet­ing.

The Beacon's ASH preview articles, which will be published over the next couple of weeks, will highlight the most interesting myeloma-related studies that will be presented at the meeting.

The

At this year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting, which will be held in early De­cem­ber, more than 100 oral pre­sen­ta­tions and about 400 poster pre­sen­ta­tions will summarize re­search focused on multiple myeloma.

Abstracts for these pre­sen­ta­tions are now avail­able.

During the next several weeks, The Beacon will pub­lish a series of arti­cles pre­viewing the myeloma-related studies from the ASH meeting that are of par­tic­u­lar interest.

Each of the articles will cover abstracts related to a specific topic, such as …

When I was a young girl, I learned how to sail a small sailboat with just a main­sail and a jib during summer classes on the water reservoir in Calgary. Later on I sailed near our home on the coast of British Columbia.

Sailing is an exercise in balance, since you have to catch the wind for forward motion, but you also have to release the tension on the sails if a really strong gust of wind threatens to capsize …

When I was in my thirties and early forties, before I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, I had a group of friends with whom I would take annual “guy” trips.  These trips usually involved traveling to a rustic area of Maine or Colorado and camping, kayaking, hiking, and any other manly adventures we could incorporate.

Of course, since I have been diagnosed with myeloma and have become progressively more immersed in my treatments, these trips have fallen by the wayside. …

"You gotta fight – for your right – to party!"  Remember that popular 1986 song by the Beastie Boys?  I was never a "rocker," but I couldn't get the song out of my head yesterday morning while I was doing some yard work.

A fellow multiple myeloma patient recently asked me, “How do other patients you know deal with their fatigue?  I’m tired all of the time…”  A great question with no simple answer.

So many things can cause fatigue …

German researchers recently reported that certain chromo­som­al ab­nor­mal­i­ties in patients' myeloma cells are associated with more rapid pro­gression from smol­der­ing myeloma to active, or symptomatic, mul­ti­ple myeloma.

Specifically, patients in the study who had the chromo­som­al ab­nor­mal­i­ties del(17p), t(4;14), and 1q gain, as well as patients with more chromo­somes than normal (hy­per­dip­loi­dy), experienced shorter times until pro­gression to sympto­matic myeloma.

Previous studies have shown that hy­per­dip­loi­dy positively affects out­comes for patients with symptomatic myeloma. In this study, however, the investigators …

Dear Multiple Myeloma:

Do you remember me?

I am the poor sap that you decided to terrorize during Thanksgiving week of 2008.

Although it was five years ago, I well remember the cool and crisp weather of that late November and how the changing leaves painted a stunningly beautiful backdrop across the forests, the rolling hills, and the sunken hollows of the Ozarks.

I also recall that as my family began to plan our annual Thanksgiving festivities, you brutishly interrupted …