In September, I wrote about a planned meeting with my myeloma specialist and what that might reveal about the effective­ness of my current treat­ment of Darzalex (dara­tumu­mab). Two weeks before the road trip to Minnesota to meet with my specialist, I’d finished the first part of the regi­men, which was one in­fusion one time a week for eight weeks.

My husband and I compressed this road trip more than usual, both coming and going. A close friend’s memorial service took the Saturday we’d normally have used for driving and visiting family. All …

When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, I wasn’t experi­enc­ing any obvi­ous symptoms of the disease. I’ve also avoided substantial side effects from treat­ment. Even so, I am impacted by the disease and treat­ment, and I thought it might be useful, especially for newly diag­nosed patients, if I shared my experi­ences.

For much of my adult life, I’ve had “back issues” so I didn’t really think much of the back pain I was experi­enc­ing prior to my myeloma diagnosis. I’d noticed a dull ache in my thigh, but again, it wasn't enough …

The breeze swirls about my face as I peer out towards the space where the thin blue lines meet on the hori­zon. The water is de­ceivingly calm now. From my painted Adirondack perch, I can hear the lapping of the water and crest­ing of the waves, and the sounds of children laughing as they buried one another in the sand. I welcome the sun from my favorite pier off the Galveston Seawall, and I think about how dif­fer­ent things were a month ago.

Many of you know that I’m not originally from …

Back in November, 2014, I wrote a column about the book Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. It is a book that many of you have read; it has also been discussed in other columns by other Beacon columnists. I still encourage lots of people (well, everyone, pretty much) to read it.

Right now, this book and my response to it are very much on my mind.

I just finished my first eight weeks of treatment with Darzalex (dara­tu­mu­mab). I will soon visit my myeloma specialist for a quarterly checkup, and my …

Last month, we were all reminded of the role the solar system plays in our lives. The moon’s orbit crossed the path of the sun on August 21, blocking sunlight for a few minutes from reaching those parts of the earth in the path of the eclipse. In North America, many millions of people experienced a total or partial solar eclipse.

I went for a walk in the morning before the scheduled eclipse. Two ravens sat overhead in spruce trees, cawing. Could they have known that an eclipse was on its …

As I wrote earlier this summer, my wife and I moved from our home of 26 years to a new house a few miles north. The move not only meant a new place to rest our heads, but we also joined the apparently growing trend of multi­gener­ational living, having purchased the house with our adult daughter.

Starting a new home with my daughter is exciting. It will mean some fun lifestyle changes and many projects to develop a living space that meets our mutual needs.

The new house is slightly smaller …

It was quite a surprise last month to see multiple myeloma mentioned on the front page of the New York Times. It was even “above the fold,” making it big news. Multiple myeloma usually only gets referred to in the paper in obit­u­aries, and then only rarely.

This mention of myeloma occurred in an article on the approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of an immunotherapy treatment to fight a form of leukemia. It was described as “the first-ever treatment that genetically alters a patient’s own cells …