I am happy that I have entered a relatively quiet period in my recovery from my allogeneic (donor) stem cell transplant and that things seem to be going well.  I am returning to something closer to a normal life, whatever that is anymore, and my mind has turned to other musings.

So, I thought I would write about something other than multiple myeloma and stem cell transplants, which brings me to the Lance Armstrong story.

As an avid cyclist, weekend warrior, and cancer patient, I have been fascinated by the Lance story …

It is now day 60 following my donor (allogeneic) stem cell transplant, and I wanted to give an update on how it has gone and what is in store.

As with an autologous (self) stem cell transplant, everyone talks about the first 100 days as the critical period. This is true even more so with the donor transplant.

As I mentioned in my last column about my transplant, the intensity of the treatment, the need for close monitoring, and the number of things that can go wrong seems much greater with …

I am writing this column 30 days after my donor stem cell transplant.

The road to this point has been far from easy.  Nor do I believe that I am anywhere near “out of the woods” as far as recovery.

However, I am feeling pretty good about where I am at right now and about my decision to go forward with the transplant.

First, a little background:

I have written about this in some of my previous posts.  Since being diagnosed about 6.5 years ago, I have undergone just about every treatment …

I have taken a few months off from writing my column to deal with my multiple myeloma health issues and to sort out my next steps.

Most of The Myeloma Beacon’s columnists are upbeat, positive, or even humorous.  I was feeling none of those things.  Most of the emotions I was having were too unsettled, confusing, and raw to write about.

The last few months have been a roller coaster of ups and downs.  At least for now, the dust does seem to be settling somewhat and I felt it was time …

Last week marked the six-year anniversary of my diagnosis of multiple myeloma.  The occasion was marked, not by a celebration, but by a trip to Boston to talk with Dr. Ken Anderson about the next step in my treatment.

The last six years have been filled with ups and downs.

As I am always reminded, myeloma is a very heterogeneous disease and behaves differently for everyone.  Some people seem to have periods of very long responses to treatment and periods where the disease is well controlled.   It seems that was never really …

My last column sparked some interesting discussion about the balance between treating multiple myeloma aggressively enough to be effective, while minimizing side effects and maximizing quality of life.

This balance has many facets to it.

Everything in medicine comes down to a risk-benefit question.  How much risk is there to a treatment, and what is the expected benefit?

Sounds simple enough.  The problem is that the answer is not always clear, especially for any one individual.

Multiple myeloma is a disease with lots of choices and lots of treatment options.  For example, …

As an avid follower of Google alerts for multiple myeloma and a reader of all things multiple myeloma on the Internet, a recent article caught my attention.

“Novel Therapies Put Multiple Myeloma on the Ropes” read the headline from the Oncology Report Digital Network.

The article led off with the statement “A sweep of new agents are poised to deliver what could be a knockout blow to multiple myeloma."

It then quoted Dr. Jeffrey Wolf, the director of the multiple myeloma program at the University of California, San Francisco, saying "We have …