Let me get this out of the way right at the outset: I am a for­tu­nate person.

It is true that I have an incurable cancer. At the time of my initial diag­nosis, I was suffering from pretty significant bone pain, especially in my ribs. And during the six months of my induction treat­ment, I dealt with some un­pleas­ant side effects, especially the crazi­ness and sleep­less­ness caused by dexamethasone (Dec­a­dron).

I went through a stem cell transplant, which was taxing, brought on severe fa­tigue, and caused painful gastrointestinal side effects. …

In December of every year, we are inundated with “year in review” lists. The best movies and music albums; notable marriages and deaths; advances in medicine and science. Frankly, I never have been much interested in reviewing the past, choosing instead to look ahead.

But in thinking about the two years since I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma at the end of June 2013, I see that much can be learned from looking back at my experiences, including what I have done right and what I’ve done wrong.

I have captioned this …

“You definitely have ONJ.”

Those were the shocking words that came out of the mouth of my oral surgeon about two months ago. The news that I had osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) was totally unexpected.

Granted, I didn’t just happen to aimlessly wander into an oral surgeon’s office, open my mouth, and ask him what he saw. But I was there to have him rule out ONJ.

Instead, he ruled it in.

But his demeanor and what he said thereafter was equally unexpected. He said that he was not …

My primary audience for these columns is the myeloma pa­tients and their care­givers who frequent The Myeloma Beacon. But, as I am sure is the case with my fel­low col­um­nists, I share my column with friends and rela­tives by email and by post­ing links on social media. For that reason, I try to make the subjects – although always myeloma-related – somewhat uni­versal.

At the risk of alienating my non-myeloma audience, this month I write about a very specific myeloma-related issue: diarrhea.

And not just any diarrhea, but diarrhea brought about by the myeloma …

As happens with most myeloma patients, my diag­nosis was delayed. There were signs of the disease that, in retro­spect, should have prompted further in­vesti­ga­tion. But, because of my and my doctors’ un­fa­mil­iar­i­ty with the disease, we did not do the test­ing necessary for a diag­nosis until there had been bone damage.

This is not unusual. The type of bone pain myeloma causes is easily con­fused with a host of mus­cu­lo­skel­e­tal prob­lems that are frequently treated with chiro­practic or physical therapy regimens.

Once the real diag­nosis comes in, many of us kick …

At the end of my last column, I teased that one of the most positive out­growths of my myeloma diagnosis was that it fostered an unexpected reunion. This is that story.

I was sitting in my hospital room on a Sunday morning the day after I had been told that I likely had multiple myeloma. I remained hospitalized fol­lowing my Friday night / Saturday morning transfusion experience so that I could get a bone marrow biopsy first thing Monday morning.

My girlfriend (now fiancée) Audrey had gone home to shower and …

On January 28, 2014, I was sitting comfortably in a chair in my hospital room reading on a laptop. It was about 30 minutes after noon when the door opened and the “team” entered. And quite a team it was.

Six team members - nurses, technicians, and a physician’s assistant - wheeled in a cart loaded with a cooler, a tub with heated water and various tubes, syringes, and other equipment, including a dish of mints. Despite the assault on my senses this procession produced, I was relatively calm.

The day before, …