Multiple myeloma is very frustrating.

I know, I know. I am stating the obvious. Sometimes it just helps to say it out loud.

How can I have terminal cancer and not be sick? I mean, I see the results of the lab tests and mostly I understand them, so I know I really do have this cursed disease. However, I don’t really feel sick.

For those of you battling disease with very real – and very difficult – symptoms, this probably sounds like a rich man complaining about poor butler service. But …

Last month, my husband and I attended the first performance of the season of the Alberta Ballet, the classical ballet "Don Quixote."

Our regional ballet company put on quite an ambitious production, with Don Quixote riding a live horse onto the stage, which to me was a typically western gesture.

The ballet reminded me that I wanted to read the novel "Don Quixote" because the phrase ‘tilting at windmills’ had lodged in my brain, and I thought it might have some relevance to my myeloma journey. I wanted to go to the source …

During my six-year wrestling match with multiple myeloma, I have been blessed to have had some wonderfully encouraging people stand in my corner.

Today I learned that one of those folks, the ‘Madman of Rock n’ Roll,’ Paul Revere of Paul Revere and the Raiders fame, passed away peacefully after a protracted battle with cancer.

A savvy, successful businessman and talented entertainer, Paul was one of the nicest guys I have ever had the pleasure of working with. He was big-hearted, ever mischievous, and on stage or off, he was well loved. …

Last month, I wrote about undergoing radiation therapy on both hips. I thought this month I would pass along how I’m doing in other ways.

First, the numbers.  My doublet therapy of Pomalyst (pomalidomide; Imnovid) and dexamethasone (Decadron) has now held my M-spike steady for two full months. The problem is that, even though my M-spike hovers around 0.6 g/dL (6 g/L), I get the distinct, painful feeling that lesions are continuing to develop and get worse.

The radiation did make the pain go away on my right hip. However, it …

It is familiar cliché. “If you are going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.”

I am not sure of the origin of this phrase, but you see it most often in the context of athletics. Athletes who brag about their skills, the phrase argues, must live up to their boasts.

I had a different topic planned for this month’s column, but recent events caused me to change course and consider the importance of walking the walk.

Since being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, it has been my ex­per­i­ence that …

Recently I saw an advertisement that discussed the importance of “inte­gra­tive medicine” as an approach to the treat­ment of cancer. It advocated a mind-body-spirit approach to treatment that includes medi­ta­tion, nutri­tion, and alter­na­tive therapies as well as the traditional medicines.

It seems that this approach has gained steam in recent years. When my mother was being treated for ovarian cancer in the 1990s, her treat­ment options were very dif­fer­ent than my husband’s options are today. At his cancer re­search hos­pi­tal, I was sur­prised to find that they offered music therapy to patients. They use …

I’ve always had an overactive imagination. It was fun when I was a kid and I could live in the Land of Oz. It’s not so fun now when I’m waiting for my monthly test results.

Things were much worse in the olden days (2005), when I was first diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma. I’d never had a serious illness before, so I had very little experience with doctors outside of a regular checkup. I didn’t really understand how doctors’ offices worked. When the doctor would tell me, “I will call you …