The leaves have turned, and they have lined our yard with golden hues of brown and russet — a reminder that all good things must change in their own time. It’s almost Thanksgiving, and I find myself very thankful. I’m thankful that, while the winds of change have blown, we’re still here; my husband Daniel, smoldering with asymptomatic myeloma since 2012, and me, his caregiver.

The topic of my column this month came to me while attending a patient edu­ca­tion program in Houston several weeks ago. The program gave myeloma patients and their caregivers the opportunity …

There are certain things you accept when you live in Houston: Dallas Cowboys fans are barely tolerated in this city, everyone claims their barbecue is the best, and you are living in hurricane country.

While Houston Texan fans try to make peace with the first item and hold their tongue when friends brag about the second, most everyone pays attention to the third item.

The official hurricane season lasts from June 1 through November 30, and throughout this time, public service announcements try to educate people about the importance of having …

Recently I saw an advertisement that discussed the importance of “inte­gra­tive medicine” as an approach to the treat­ment of cancer. It advocated a mind-body-spirit approach to treatment that includes medi­ta­tion, nutri­tion, and alter­na­tive therapies as well as the traditional medicines.

It seems that this approach has gained steam in recent years. When my mother was being treated for ovarian cancer in the 1990s, her treat­ment options were very dif­fer­ent than my husband’s options are today. At his cancer re­search hos­pi­tal, I was sur­prised to find that they offered music therapy to patients. They use …

It’s a Tuesday evening, and I have the house all to myself.  I sit at my desk, with a generous pour of red wine, and Sara MacLachlan softly singing through the speakers. My hands are poised upon the keyboard, and I’m ready to type this month’s column.

Despite the inspiring ambience, my mind resists the usual flow of words.  I want to write something inspiring and uplifting.  But in my mind’s eye, I see numbers where the words should be.  They are large, pulsating, dig­i­tal white numbers in a dark mental void. …

“Futbol,” or soccer as it’s known on this side of the pond, is really catch­ing on in the United States.

Over the last few weeks, many Americans, myself included, have been riveted to our televisions as we cheered for team USA in the FIFA World Cup.

It seems that soccer fever is so pervasive that even the clergy have not been spared the affliction. I recently heard a minister discuss in his sermon the dif­fer­ent styles of play of the World Cup teams. The minister also pointed out that we could learn something from …

The sun is shining, and our cats are dreaming in sunbeams about catch­ing quick-footed squirrels just out of reach. Summer … It feels good to finally be here, and so it’s fitting that I now conclude the three-part series on our journey from the dark days of my husband Daniel’s initial diag­no­sis to the brighter days of the present.

As I mentioned in my last column, we moved to Houston in 2012 so that Daniel could be treated by a myeloma specialist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. I truly believe that …

After my husband Daniel’s initial diagnosis with monoclonal gam­mop­a­thy of undetermined significance (MGUS) in 2012, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the “treatment” plan of watching and waiting, which had been suggested by a local hematologist/oncologist, was not enough.

The hematologist/oncologist wasn’t a myeloma specialist, and he wasn’t connected to a research hospital. My mother had ovarian center in the 1990s, and I know what an impact it had on her recovery to have had a re­search hospital involved in her treatment.

I believed that we couldn’t get the care we …