As I lie here in a clinic bed, watching the nurse put on her gown and gloves to prepare my infusion of Kyprolis (car­filz­o­mib), I wonder how this all became "normal."

I remember the first time I felt like a medical patient on this journey. It was in March 2016 when I went in for the first of what would be three (so far) bone marrow biopsies. I distinctly remember how strange it felt to be shown into a treat­ment room, given an immodest medical gown, and be poked and prodded in …

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how myeloma treat­ment is like being a contestant on a game show. You never know what’s lurking behind the screens once you get called up from the audience. It could be a new car, or it could be a “wah-wah-wah.”

Today, my husband Daniel com­pleted his 3^rd cycle of Kyprolis (car­filz­o­mib), Revlimid (lena­lido­mide), and dexa­meth­a­sone (Decadron) for his multiple myeloma. In a week, he will have his next round of myeloma labs, and then we’ll meet with his myeloma specialist to discuss his progress. That’s when we’ll find …

I recently had lunch with a group of fellow multiple myeloma patients, during which we touched on the problems we patients have had with memory and cognitive issues.

We all agreed that the treat­ments we have received seem to have affected our states of mind.

For me, that was particularly true after my stem cell trans­plant in January 2010. I was dealing with many aspects of "chemo brain" at the time. These problems included short-term memory loss, slower thinking, and trouble concentrating. Sometimes I would walk into a room to get …

Back in April, I wrote about my adventures with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). I had run into a specious HIPAA barrier when the on­col­ogy practice I treat at initially refused to email me my laboratory results, saying HIPAA did not allow emails. Several readers shared comments about their own ex­peri­ences and a few expressed interest in the memo I presented to my oncologist addressing my HIPAA right.

Before I write and before you read another sentence about HIPAA, let me make this disclaimer: The in­­for­ma­tion con­tained in this …

I’m not sure if my husband Graham and I had any definite plans for how to spend our first year post retirement.

In the pre-myeloma days, I think we often talked about traveling more and spending more time together doing the things we love to do. My multiple myeloma diag­nosis turned everything upside down for a while. Our plans shifted to much more day-to-day things, such as doctor visits, man­agement of treat­ment side effects, and the hope of better health.

As I’ve said before, I was lucky and recovered well from my …

Lately, our life reminds me of one of those 80s movies where some fraternity pledge is getting spanked with a wooden paddle, and the wincing recruit says, “Thank you, sir! May I have another?”

My husband, Daniel, has just finished his second cycle of Kyprolis (car­filz­o­mib), Revlimid (lena­lido­mide), and dexa­meth­a­sone (Decadron) treat­ment for his multiple myeloma. He seems to be tolerating the regi­men reason­ably well, given the side effects that he could be having. However, we already have seen our fair share of chal­lenges, and they are intensifying with each session in …

“You look great,” isn’t nor­mally a compli­­ment or greet­ing that causes the re­ceiver pause. For me, how­ever, it creates mixed feelings, and those mixed feelings can change depending on the person and the situation when the greet­ing is offered.

I realize how I react to what is said to me is my issue, not the speaker's. Often, they really mean to say that I look "normal" and un­harmed by my cancer and treat­ments. They are wit­nessing no outwardly changes in my appear­ance or behavior, which they take to mean the threat of …