As my regular readers know, I am in the midst of my first stem cell transplant to treat my myeloma.

I don’t care how many doctors say this is a “tolerable” procedure--it isn’t any fun.

I am nauseous constantly, tired as my blood counts crash, and battling to keep diarrhea and mouth sores at bay.

But I’m always looking for a positive spin or silver linings as I wait for my stem cells to engraft.

For example, when I learned I would be receiving anti-fungal medication, I lobbied the transplant pharmacist to …

Here’s a question you’ve probably never seen: How is multiple myeloma like a yellow Volkswagen Beetle? Read on! 

I will never forget the day that I was unceremoniously plunged into the perplexing world of multiple myeloma.

It was an early afternoon in mid November 2008, and I was at home with a backache that I couldn’t seem to get rid of.  My phone rang, and in his stoic, matter-of-fact tone, my family doctor said that my severe pains were not the result of a pulled muscle or tweaked nerves (as I’d hoped), …

Last week I promised to keep everyone updated as I prepared to undergo my first autologous stem cell transplant.

Despite a few close calls—like a final insurance approval that didn’t arrive until 5:01 p.m. the day before I was scheduled to be admitted—I am sitting here as a stem cell transplant patient in Moffitt Cancer Center’s brand new Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit.  And I’m happy to say that I’m alive and doing well.

On Tuesday night, I received my first high-dose chemotherapy infusion of melphalan (Alkeran).  As I write this on …

June is the 7th anniversary of my autologous stem cell transplant. Dates assigned to diagnosis, transplant, remission, and relapse take on special significance to multiple myeloma patients, but the transplant is often regarded as a kind of rebirth—a new birthday.

What happens when we unwind our idea of who we are to include the ongoing presence of myeloma? When I lay in the hospital bed 7 years ago, I became a different version of myself. Imagining a future this far ahead was impossible.

Our daily life has a melody all its own. …

As my last column was published, I was in Quito, Ecuador, preparing to journey to the Galapagos Islands the following day. It was a trip planned before my sister Deana was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and even if I had been wise enough to purchase travel insurance, I doubt it would have worked in these circumstances.

For some reason, there are those I encounter who don’t think that a sibling counts as an “immediate” family member. How wrong they are. Genetically, there is no closer relative than a full sibling. And emotionally, …

I completed my grueling, pre-stem cell transplant testing this week.

I also learned I am right on schedule to undergo my autologous stem cell transplant (using my own stem cells) beginning Monday.

The plan is for me to stay on the Moffitt Cancer Center Transplant Unit for one or two weeks. At that point, I would be moved to outpatient housing nearby for an additional two or three weeks, as I start my long road to recovery.

I hope to be able to continue to write my column weekly throughout the …

I thought I’d share with you a bit of the story about multiple myeloma and me.

Mostly, I’ve resisted conveying this tale, but I realized lately that when I meet people with myeloma for the first time, we quickly start talking about how we learned we had the disease and how we’ve been treated.

If I’ve learned anything from these talks it is that we are all so different – with treatments that can be widely divergent, and with greatly varied attitudes about how to deal with myeloma.

None of us knew …