Fellow myeloma patients: Is it ever possible to “forget” your disease?

If you’re having painful symptoms or side effects, or if treatment has turned your normal life upside down, I know the answer is a big, re­sound­ing "No." Myeloma is there every second of the day. But what about the times myeloma is smol­der­ing, in remission, or stabilized by drugs? Dur­ing these times, your every­day life is mostly “normal,” but can you ever really forget?

I usually can’t. Then, this past Christmas season, I suddenly quit thinking about it for big chunks …

For me, November will always remind me of harvest time – my stem cell harvest time.

Six years ago this month, my family and I spent three weeks at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, so I could undergo stem cell collection. I wasn’t yet ready for a transplant, but my doctor wanted me to collect enough stem cells for three autologous stem cell transplants and then freeze and store them for future use.

During those three weeks at Mayo, I was able to squeeze out 10.4 million stem cells.  They are …

Four years ago, my sister found out there was going to be a 5K race near her home in Illinois that was raising money to go toward multiple myeloma research. My whole family showed up to participate.

I’d walked a few 5Ks, and while I always made an effort to exercise regularly – usually walking a few miles on a treadmill or going to a strength-training class at the gym – I hadn’t run a single step since eighth-grade gym class.

Walking was permitted in this race, of course, but I was …

My daughter, who is eight years old, saw a commercial for a cancer hospital the other day. She’s seen these types of commercials before, but this time, something clicked in her brain.

“I don’t want to get cancer and die!” she exclaimed.

I reassured her that she was absolutely not going to get cancer and die because, well, that’s what you tell someone who is eight.

“And just because people have cancer does not always mean they’re going to die,” I explained. “A lot of people with cancer can have treatment and …

My multiple myeloma diagnosis in 2005 was a shock and a mystery.  I was 30 years old and healthy; I’d never even heard of this disease.  It seemed to appear out of the blue, against all odds. Where did this thing come from, and how did I get it? No doctor could tell me.

Six years later, a small piece of the puzzle fell into place, but not in a good way. My Aunt Margie – my dad’s only sibling – was also diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Was it a bizarre coincidence? …

Fellow myeloma patients: When do you let new friends, casual acquaintances, or even strangers know that you have cancer?

When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2005, I immediately sent out a long e-mail to all of my friends and family. Then I started a blog and told everyone to visit it for regular updates about my health. My cancer was in no way a secret.

Nearly eight years later, my cancer is still not a secret. It’s just more difficult to tell people I have it.

Sometimes, I’m not sure …

Ever since I became an official cancer patient seven years ago, I’ve had a question I’ve wanted to ask other cancer patients, but I’ve been too scared.

Here goes:

Am I the only one who can’t stand the song “Live Like You Were Dying”?

If you’ve never heard this song, it’s a country song about a man in his 40s who is diagnosed with a terrible disease. The song is not specific about what the disease is, telling us only that he got some “news.”

I spent most of the next …