Looking down at the green grass is a good sign. So is the fact that I am writing this article. Both of these little “things.” and so many more, add up to my current status of living with cancer, as opposed to not living.

I am a male, 63 years old, who was diag­nosed with multiple myeloma about 4.5 years ago. Prior to my diag­nosis, I was having tre­men­dous back aches and finally went to an orthopedist who sug­gested an MRI. On a cold Friday in Jan­u­ary­, upon the reading of the …

As I mentioned in my recent columns, my M-spike and serum free light chain levels have been rising over the past few months, in­di­cating I might have to start treat­ment in the near future. The reprieve from med­i­ca­tions this year had been really nice, but in the world of myeloma, it seems to be wishful thinking that my dis­ease would suddenly halt and disappear without help from the drugs avail­able to us now.

So, earlier this month, upon consultation with my doctors and my family, I decided to try a new …

I try to ap­proach life with a Rosie Riveter attitude of “We can do this!” I try to be en­cour­ag­ing, especially given the chal­lenges that go along with cancer treat­ment. However, since my husband Daniel began induction treat­ment last March, it’s been one uphill battle after another.

Recently, I was fighting insurance and I asked myself, “What could possibly hap­pen next?”  And the universe answered with a re­sound­ing: shingles!

Like many patients, Daniel had chicken pox as a child. People who have had chicken pox before are at a greater risk of …

Back at the end of 2018, my oncologist Tim and his partners joined a large national cancer group. Tim and com­pany had operated a busy and highly respected private cancer clinic in the Columbus, Ohio metro area for a number of years. The name remains the same on the build­ing and when the receptionist answers the phone, but Big Corporate is here to stay.

The changes with the transition were, at times, startling, ill-conceived, or both. Some changes, how­ever, were undone within the first four months of 2019 because of the …

About four and a half years ago, prior to my multiple myeloma diag­nosis, I started to have lots of health issues that were pre­vi­ously unknown to me.

The ones that initially affected me most severely were back and rib pain and breathlessness when I exercised. I had slipped when hill walking, and I thought I might have pulled a muscle or even broken a rib. I couldn’t find any reason for the breathlessness, but I thought I might have damaged an intercostal muscle.

Yet none of this really made much …

As I have related in pre­vi­ous columns, I am cur­rently in a stable con­di­tion with a low level of myeloma protein in my blood. This status has allowed me to be off treat­ments since the beginning of the year. My multiple myeloma is closely monitored in that I get blood tests every four to six weeks. I am cur­rently basically in a "watch and wait" situation until the time when I may have to start treat­ment again.

At first I was really nervous about this "watching and waiting" because it involves a …

Someone said to me once that, in life, you can get used to any­thing. I am not sure that I agree with that state­ment. I would rather think that you can try to get used to most things.

When my body started falling apart due to multiple myeloma, I did try to adapt, but it was a struggle. I don’t think I am used to the new cir­cum­stances, even now four years post diag­nosis, but I certainly feel that I have tried to adapt and make the best of the life I …