Lou Ganim’s most recent article in his Beacon column “Birds In Spring” looks at the reactions of others when they learn that you have cancer. It reminded me how a “coming out” process has unfolded for me in the last few years.

My diagnosis eight years ago was not a quiet doctor’s office discovery. After weeks of frequently calling in sick to work and little social life, an emergency room visit left me no time or space to hide. Everyone in my life soon knew I had cancer.

Spending time in …

At the beginning of our cancer journey, a dear friend, whose husband has been battling various cancers for nearly six years, shared the best piece of advice she was given about coping with cancer: Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.  This week, those words have rung true in several ways.

The Chicago Marathon is two weeks away.  I’m so excited to participate that I can barely stand it.  Last Sunday, I ran (perhaps traversed would be the better verb) 22 miles.  This is the longest distance I have covered in …

I just returned from my first air travel since my stem cell transplant in July.

It has been ten weeks since my stem cells were infused back into my body and seven weeks since I returned home.

All of this begs the question:  Should I wear a protective mask in the airport?  How about on the plane?

Those of you who read my column regularly know I normally take an aggressive stance when it comes to what I can and should do now that I’m home.

So far, all has turned out …

I recently read an article in the Kansas City Star that looked at how cancer patients are treated by others, and how we are looked upon by our society in general.

Overall, I thought the sense of the article was quite negative, but maybe not far off the mark.

It reminded me, too, that I don’t really want others to think of me first off as a cancer patient.

A couple of years ago, for example, I was speaking with a reporter about a high-profile multiple myeloma patient and giving him …

As promised, I would like to share my thoughts on the important question:  Is treatment for multiple myeloma a privilege or a right?

After reading some of the comments and emails following my column about battling my health insurance company, it is clear that a number of readers strongly feel that treatment for multiple myeloma—or any type of health care, for that matter—is definitely not a right.

Although my opinion differs, I shouldn’t be surprised by this.  Support for free market principles runs deep in this country.  A large, vocal minority …

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 …

Since this article is being published the day after the 10^th anniversary of September 11, I felt it appropriate to dedicate this column to the first member of Team Beat The H*ll Outta Multiple Myeloma (BTHO MM).  While readers might think the first member would obviously be my sister Deana, who is the myeloma patient in our family, I contend our first member was Nurse Linda.

Without covering information already shared in my first column, Nurse Linda works at UPMC Passavant – Cranberry Campus.  This is a branch of the UPMC …