For my birthday a few months ago, my husband got me a Fitbit. I’m ob­sessed with it.

A Fitbit is a small device you wear inside a band that goes around your wrist. It has magical powers and can tell when you’re walking or running, and it tracks your activity throughout the day. The goal is to take at least 10,000 steps every day.

Once you hit 10,000 steps, the Fitbit lights up and buzzes happily. When you sync your device to the Fitbit web site after hitting 10,000 steps, you’re rewarded …

I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma when my only daughter was six months old. I’ve experienced parenthood and cancerhood for ap­prox­i­mate­ly the same amount of time, and I can tell you the one thing these two states have in com­mon: Everyone wants to give you advice.

I suppose most of it is well-meaning advice. I mean, who wouldn’t want to know that letting a three-year-old keep her pacifier is going to turn her into a serial killer? Who doesn’t want to know that her myeloma specialist is a quack? Thanks so much, …

I just turned 39 last month. Thirty-nine is not a nice, round number. A person’s 39th isn’t traditionally considered a “milestone” birthday. You don’t see Hallmark cards or mylar balloons with a giant “39” on the front.

When you’re 39, nobody puts up funny signs with poems on them like they do when you’re 40. You know: “Lordy, lordy, so-and-so is 40.” What would it be for 39? “It’s fine. It’s fine. Karen is 39.”

See? Nobody wants to see a 39 sign in your yard.

You don’t even get to rhyme …

Have you ever had a doctor break up with you?

I’ve gotten to know a lot of doctors over the past eight years. Some have been with me since my myeloma diagnosis; others have come and gone.

Before my diagnosis, I was eerily healthy. Even as a kid, I rarely had any­thing more serious than the sniffles. For most of my life, I saw a doctor once a year for my annual checkup, and that was about it. Even my preg­nancy was completely uneventful. I showed up for my regular checkups, had …

What would you do if suddenly, out of the blue, your myeloma just – poof! –disappeared?

I know many people achieve remission after treatment, but what if – after having stable but measurable disease for years – it simply vanished for no reason?

A few months ago, I called the doctor’s office to get my latest test results. The nurse said she couldn’t find the results for my M-spike (monoclonal protein). This has happened before, so I wasn’t worried. I felt fine and all of my other numbers were normal, so I’d …

I was in the middle of making dinner a few weeks ago when I got an urgent text from my sister-in-law.

“Did you know Tom Brokaw has multiple myeloma?”

I occasionally hear about celebrities who have multiple myeloma, and I’m always interested in their stories, but this was somehow different. This was stunning. It felt like a friend had been diagnosed.

This was Tom Brokaw! Tom Brokaw, people!

I’m not a creepy stalker. Let me explain. I’ve never technically met, written to, spoken to, or made actual eye contact with Tom Brokaw, …

Sometimes newly diagnosed patients will contact me, looking for advice.  I love connecting with other patients, but when it comes to advice for the newly diagnosed, I always have to sit and think for a while. What are the most important things they should know? What do I wish I had known when I was diagnosed back in 2005?

I know that every case of multiple myeloma is different, but here are the things I have learned in my eight-plus years with the disease:

You’re the boss of this cancer business. I …