I recently attended a talk about the history of treat­ments and sup­port­ive ther­a­pies for multiple myeloma in Canada. Being now in the tenth year since my myeloma diag­nosis in 2009, I find this to be an interesting subject. It makes me realize how much things have changed here in Canada, and elsewhere, with regard to the treat­ment of multiple myeloma.

My induction ther­apy, or initial treat­ment after diag­nosis, consisted of Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib) and dexa­meth­a­sone (Decadron).

Velcade was approved and started to be funded by provincial health plans in Canada in 2005. It …

I have a red-headed friend with lym­phoma. She seems to be an outlier on the spectrum of “average responses” to treat­ment. Even common front­line drugs have caused her unexpected side effects. When it comes to her treat­ment, she teases her specialists that she’s a “medical uni­corn,” some­thing never before seen. I’m beginning to think she’s not the only one.

I am writing this column on Day +11, or the eleventh day after my husband Daniel’s au­tol­o­gous stem cell trans­plant. The road we took to get here did not go accord­ing to plan. He’s …

When I wrote my first column for the Myeloma Beacon, I talked about the rules I invented to try to help me survive both the process of induction ther­apy and the stem cell trans­plant.

There were three rules.

First, do exactly what the doctor and all the nursing staff tell you to do.

Second, make as little fuss as possible.

Third, look forward and not back.

They were pretty simple rules, and I think keeping to them helped me to survive that time in one piece, more or less.

Last week …

A while ago, while tidying up the medicine cabinet, I came across an un­used portion of Revlimid capsules and some dexa­meth­a­sone pills. The Revlimid, just three capsules, had expired. Of course my husband and I returned the unused medications to a hospital pharmacy for proper dis­posal.

It was startling to me to realize that these unused medications were still there. I mused over how Revlimid and dex had helped get me back into remission after a relapse four years ago. I might still be taking Revlimid if it were not for a …

Several years ago, I got into an argument with an oncologist – not my oncologist – over a significance of my IgG jumping up 500 points from the pre­vi­ous reading. When I expressed great dis­may, he snapped, “Oh, do you have a medical degree and extensive training in hematology? Do you know how to read lab reports better than I do?”

If I had not been so rattled by his attack, I would have retorted, “No, but I have lived in this body for over half a century and with myeloma for over …

As I enter my third year of main­te­nance ther­apy after experiencing very little change in my health the past couple years, I sometimes feel as though I’m just “treading water.”

While it's often con­sidered derogatory to say that someone is treading water, being able to swim in that way is actually a very im­por­tant safety skill. A swimmer isn’t going to make any forward progress treading water, but they’re going to keep their head above water (i.e., not drown) long enough to catch their breath so they can con­tinue a longer …

Our summer here in Calgary was a little unpredictable this year, with daytime temperatures ranging from 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius), with a strong cold north wind blowing, to a record high of 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius). Plus, in between the hot weather and the cold windy day, we had weeks of forest fire smoke occluding the sun, triggering a health alert recommending that people stay indoors.

Despite the unpredictable weather, my husband Dilip and I did our best to exercise, both indoors and outdoors. As part of my …