The cancer world is full of clichés.  We are inundated on a daily basis with expressions, such as “the long and courageous battle,” “stay positive,” “survivor,” “every day is precious,” and now of course, pink ribbons.

One of the most common cancer clichés is the idea of the “new normal.”  After a cancer diagnosis or cancer treatments, people constantly toss around the term new normal. But what does this really mean?

When I was younger, in my twenties and thirties, I was an avid runner.  It was what I did and part …

Ever since I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma five and a half years ago, hardly a day goes by when I don’t read some breathtaking headline about the promise of “personalized medicine” in the treatment of cancer.

News article after news article declares that breakthroughs in unlocking cancer's genetic code will lead to new, highly individualized, highly effective treatments.

Sounds great.  How could it not make your heart race a little faster knowing a cure is right around the corner?

Yet, when I go to talk to my doctor, none of this …

When I was first diagnosed with multiple myeloma five and a half years ago, my initial treatment consisted of induction chemotherapy with vincristine (Oncovin), doxorubicin (Adriamycin), and dexamethasone (Decadron) followed by an autologous stem cell transplant.  I had a good response to the treatment but never quite got into remission.

The course of my disease over the next few years took me through a roller coaster of treatments with Revlimid (lenalidomide), Revlimid with dexamethasone, Velcade (bortezomib) alone, and Velcade plus Revlimid.  Each of these treatments …

When I was first diagnosed with multiple myeloma five and a half years ago, I was told by my local oncologist that the place to go for treatment was the University of Arkansas.  So that was the first stop on my multiple myeloma journey.

I was introduced to the aggressive Arkansas Total Therapy protocol: high dose chemotherapy with multiple active agents, followed by tandem (two back-to-back) stem cell transplants, and then two to three years of maintenance therapy.

The team of physicians and staff there were well trained and highly qualified.  They were …

During the course of my treatments for multiple myeloma over the last few years, I have run the gambit of FDA-approved drugs.

After my initial induction therapy and stem cell transplant and a period of watchful waiting, I started on Revlimid (lenalidomide) and then added dexamethasone (Decadron).

After slowly relapsing on Revlimid/dexamethasone, I was switched to Velcade (bortezomib).   After five months of Velcade, the response was very good, but I had to stop due to the side effects.  So I went back to Revlimid/dexamethasone for maintenance.

When I again began …

For three years after my myeloma diagnosis and initial treatment in 2006, I continued to work a fairly full schedule as an ear, nose, and throat surgeon, seeing patients three days a week and doing surgery two days.  However, by design, my days were not nearly as full as before I had gotten sick. 

As I mentioned in my last post, after relapsing on Revlimid (lenalidomide) / dexamethasone (Decadron) two years ago, I started treatment with Velcade (bortezomib) twice a week. Since the Moffitt Cancer Center was right across …

When I finished with my stem cell transplant in September of 2006, I had achieved a very good partial response and my monoclonal protein level (M-spike) was down from 7.5 at diagnosis to 0.5. My doctor seemed happy, but in truth I was not.  I was disappointed I didn’t achieve a complete response.

In an attempt to reduce stress, I returned to work on a somewhat reduced schedule compared to what I was used to doing before getting sick.

I tried to carry on life as normally as possible and began a …