I took off from writing my column in January while under­going treat­ment and try­ing to sort through other treatment options.

Since my donor (allogeneic) stem cell transplant in August 2012, my multiple myeloma had recurred again with aggressive extramedullary disease (myeloma outside of the blood and bone marrow).

This progression occurred despite several cycles of a regimen of Kyprolis (car­filzomib), Pomalyst (pomalidomide, Imnovid), cyclophosphamide (Cy­toxan), and dexamethasone (Decadron), leaving me in a very bad situ­a­tion.

Fortunately, my disease responded to a couple of cycles …

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 is not simple.  It can be handled many ways.

Before formulating my …

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.

I was recently having coffee with one of the other key members …

Several years ago, well before I had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, we had a family friend who was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer.  He was one of these relentlessly upbeat, positive people, and of course, he approached his disease in the same way.

Despite the prognosis and all appearances to the contrary, he refused to accept any outcome except that he was going to “beat this thing.”   Now I cannot speak to what he was secretly thinking or what he felt in his heart of hearts, but that was the …

This was a very big summer in our household for family events.

My parents had their sixtieth wedding anniversary, my oldest nephew got married, and my daughter spent a month working in New York.

I was able to travel to and enjoy all of these events.

I mention this only because a year ago, when I started hearing about these upcoming festivities, I was in the hospital for my bone marrow transplant.  It was far from clear that I was going to be around long enough to make it to any of …

I recently met up with an old friend of mine for lunch.

After exchanging the usual pleasantries, he began to relate to me his current dilemma.  Due to changes in the business environment, it seems that the model that his business was based upon was quickly becoming economically non-viable.

He wasn’t complaining or pounding his fists on the table about the unfairness of the world.  He simply related to me how he had been out networking and exploring all of his options, including revamping his business model, merging or closing down, and …

I have always been a huge believer in second opinions; however, one of the most stressful and anxiety-provoking things is when the experts do not agree.  I am then in the position of having to sort through the differ­ences, try to under­stand how they have arrived at different conclusions, and then try to make a deci­sion based on available and usually inade­quate information.

It’s not exactly news to anyone with multiple myeloma that there are a lot of medi­cal decisions to be made during the course of treatment.  It’s also under­stood that …