I recently returned from a holiday visit to our relatives on the mainland. For those of you unfamiliar with travel to or from Hawaii, the trip to anywhere out of state is LONG. A minimum of five hours of flying is needed to get anywhere. Our flight to Phoenix was six and a half hours this time.

After a lifetime of this kind of travel, you would think I would get used to it. You would be wrong.

It’s the same with my myeloma. You would think that after three and a …

January 19 is the anniversary of my stem cell trans­plant. I celebrate the “birthday” of my immune system each year. This year was the 9th such celebration, which seems fairly amazing to me.

Before my trans­plant, I had read about a survivor who was hoping to get two or three years of remission from his trans­plant. His account really set my ex­pec­ta­tions. Of course, I now realize that things are not that pre­dict­able with myeloma: some people do better, some worse.

I was really lucky, getting seven years without treat­ment after my …

There are many analogies that have been used to describe being afflicted with cancer. In my March 2015 column, I indicated my preferred analogy is that of chapters in a book.

While recovering from a hiking experience in Scottsdale, Arizona, in early January, another analogy came to mind – that of climbing a mountain.

In late December, my family and I traveled to Scottsdale to attend the Fiesta Bowl to watch Ohio State play Notre Dame. We arrived in Scottsdale on Wednesday, which gave us almost two full days to fill …

The word “port” has multiple definitions, ranging from a rich, fortified wine, to the left side of a ship, to a town or city where ships load and unload cargo. Cleveland, Ohio, has a port. So does Portland, Oregon, despite being 90 miles inland. During a storm, ships seek a port – preferably a safe one – and are willing to settle for the proverbial “any port” in which to ride out the bad weather.

“Port” can also mean an access to a system. In my case, my (relatively) new port provides access to …

Happy New Year to all! I am so hoping that all of us have a good year.

I am a bit compulsive about making lists, and I work from lists on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. This is the time of year, however, when I put together a very special list: my New Year’s resolutions!

The focus of my New Year’s resolutions has been shifting over the years, especially since my multiple myeloma diagnosis more than six years ago (this January actually marks the sixth anniversary of my autologous stem cell …

It's December 2015 as I write this, and I am enjoying my in-between time.

For me, in-between times are the months between treatments – times when I can almost forget that I have multiple myeloma.

I have been in and out of a variety of treatments since I relapsed in 2013. The good news is that all the treatments worked for a while. The bad news is that all the treatments worked only for a while, or the side effects became so awful that I pleaded to stop the treatment.

Unfortunately, …

Having lived with multiple myeloma for several years now, my journey has come to a fairly quiet period. For this I am truly grateful. While I try NOT to think about the disease as often as possible, I have been largely un­suc­cess­ful in my attempts.

Such was the case just this last week:

Our plan was simple. After a challenging year and a typically hectic holiday, my family and I took a quick post-Christmas getaway trip to relax with relatives in the Chicago area before heading home to ring in the New …