Do you have the time to listen to me whine? Sorry, but I need to vent about the challenges of being terminally ill in America today. I am not sure that it is worse than in other countries. In fact, I am sure it is dramatically better than in most developing nations.

I am not a medical expert, only a patient who has also been a small busi­ness owner most of his life. As such, I am required to put my customer’s interests first or I will surely fail. It boils down …

My wife, Pattie, is an amazing caregiver.  Smart and compassionate, her own experiences as a cancer survivor prepared her to intuitively understand what I need and when.

Pattie also has had a lot of practice as a caregiver; she’s been watching over me for over seven years.

I was battling symptoms for years before my multiple myeloma was diag­nosed in April of 2007. The good news was that an MRI finally revealed what a half dozen doctors couldn’t figure out. We finally knew why my hands would shake when I wrote, why my …

My always-in-a-hurry daughter surprised me by plopping down on the family room couch to join me for what my kids call ‘Dad Movie Night.’

Because the film featured no vampire heartthrobs, no hungry gamers, and no schoolboy hero wizards, I expected her to say ‘I’ll see ya’ later, Daddy!’ before scampering off to resume her regularly scheduled teen­age girl activities.

But to my delight, she stayed for all two hours of the flick, start to finish, soup to nuts. I was impressed.

So what was the Hollywood masterpiece that …

Does anyone else remember exactly when their old, regular, pre-myeloma life ended? I can still pinpoint the last moment of my old life. I think about it every Halloween.

It was the moment right before I pressed the “play” button on my answer­ing machine on the afternoon of October 31, 2005. Until I pressed that button, I was a regular, healthy, 30-year-old stay-at-home mom to a five-month-old baby.

After I pressed it, I was a myeloma patient.

No symptoms. No warning. Just, “Poof!”

It was Halloween. My daughter and I had just …

There are certain things you accept when you live in Houston: Dallas Cowboys fans are barely tolerated in this city, everyone claims their barbecue is the best, and you are living in hurricane country.

While Houston Texan fans try to make peace with the first item and hold their tongue when friends brag about the second, most everyone pays attention to the third item.

The official hurricane season lasts from June 1 through November 30, and throughout this time, public service announcements try to educate people about the importance of having …

I have a good friend who’s been bugging me lately about my health. Call him Bob (which is, in fact, his real name). Bob and I have been friends for almost 30 years, despite the fact that we have not seen one another for almost a quarter century. Bob and his wife have lived in Alaska for the last 22 years, so all of our contact is by phone or email.

Bob is a “fixer.” Bob is a lot of things, to be honest, but high on his list of per­son­al attributes …

I consider myself an optimist. I always see the glass half full rather than half empty. This approach has served me well since my multiple mye­lo­ma diagnosis two and a half years ago.

However, while awaiting the blood test results of my regular check-ups, I turn into a pessimist. I expect the worst, and I mentally prepare myself for the worst possible news. I have no explanation for this change in attitude that I go through every three months.

In addition, a sense of paranoia overcomes me on the days leading up …