We are now in the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, one of the largest battles of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire.

For that reason, I have been re-reading Somme: The Heroism and Horror of War by Martin Gilbert. It is striking how many men who became well known in later life served at the Somme, for instance J. R. R. Tolkien and the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Some of these veterans suffered long-lasting effects from …

A couple of years ago one of the office supply stores introduced the “EASY button.” The idea was that you push the button and everything was taken care of for you. I’ve been thinking about that button a lot lately, and imagin­ing what such a button could do for caregivers.

As with myeloma patients, every caregiver is different, and therefore their needs are special to their circumstances. But I think we can know some things in gen­eral about the journey that a caregiver goes through and what type of EASY button would be needed …

A few years ago, I thought of retire­ment as an un­burdened time where I would be spend­ing a lot of time on beaches, read­ing, travel­ing the world, and watch­ing nature. To that end, my husband and I purchased a tract of land on Vancouver Island about 20 years ago with the in­tention of building a retire­ment home there.

Somehow that plan just did not work out. We still like to visit the island, but no longer have plans of living there. In fact, we are both still not retired, even though …

Despite my love for sports and the fact that I have been directly involved in sports in one form or another for most of my life, I have found that there are not many sports movies worth watching. Few, if any, have realistic sports action scenes, and it is obvious that the writers and producers know very little about sports or, giving them the benefit of the doubt, it is just too difficult to create sports action that resembles what we see in live sporting events.

While the action in none of the …

I have been struck lately at how clearly I am leading a double life.

In my “healthy life,” I am fun-loving, cheerful, outgoing, and almost always trying to grab the golden apple with both hands. I am able to combine work, fun, and family into a package that I’ve rarely ever been happier about.

In my “myeloma life,” I find myself standoffish, reserved, and looking for­ward to my next nap. I am usually a bit frumpy and grumpy and not very fun to be around. It is not somebody I enjoy being, …

In most editions of this column, I focus on lessons I have learned while dealing with multiple myeloma. My hope is that what I have learned will help others.

This month, however, I want to talk about a lesson I learned many years ago – a lesson that has been reinforced by what I have gone through since my myeloma diagnosis three years ago.

When I was a young man, before I had children, I was like many fresh-faced lawyers and other professionals – ambitious and focused on my career. I knew …

Six weeks ago, I traveled to a new country in my very own myeloma land. For the first time in five years since my stem cell transplant, I experienced clinical symp­toms: low hemoglobin levels, low white blood cell counts, and very low platelet levels. These symptoms are invisible to others. I look the same, but I am ex­peri­enc­ing fatigue, shortness of breath, and bruises without any injury.

The symptoms came as a surprise to both me and my clinical team. This new journey began when I took a six-week break from treatment …