Three months ago, my painful right hip was replaced.  Recovery has been swift and rewarding.  I’m able to kick in the pool again when I swim, take long walks, and not wake up in the middle of the night with my myeloma-ravaged hip joint throbbing.

But all my news on the pain front isn’t good.  Back before I was diag­nosed in 2007, my myeloma had been systematically attacking my bones for years.  My ribs, lower back, pelvis, and right femur were all involved.  Hardest hit of all were several of my cervical …

Fortunately there are some good days when I can almost forget that I have multiple myeloma.  Then it somehow sneaks back into the picture in most curious of ways.

“Is it going to be hot today, Daddy?” eight year old Lizzie asked me.

“Yep, it’s going to be in the upper 90s – the mercury is rising!”

She gave me her patented ‘hunh?’ look to which I have become accustomed.

“Mercury is what, Daddy?”

“Mercury is rising. You know what mercury is, right?”

“Mercury? Uh...oh, I know. It’s that crummy old car …

The summer of 2013 is too rapidly coming to an end. The blistering 95-degree days of July have faded away during the first few weeks of August into glorious days in a more temperate 80-degree range. Normally it’s in August when we on the U.S. east coast suffer the dog days of summer, but so far this August has been mild and we even had a few crisp nights. We of course have yet to see what late August and early September will bring.

The cool weather eased our transition from rural …

My multiple myeloma diagnosis in 2005 was a shock and a mystery.  I was 30 years old and healthy; I’d never even heard of this disease.  It seemed to appear out of the blue, against all odds. Where did this thing come from, and how did I get it? No doctor could tell me.

Six years later, a small piece of the puzzle fell into place, but not in a good way. My Aunt Margie – my dad’s only sibling – was also diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Was it a bizarre coincidence? …

This one is for all of us who live in Cancerland and are waylaid by one too many individuals practicing medicine without a license.

What is it about a cancer diag­nosis that suddenly endows people around you with a degree in oncology?

I first became aware of this phenomenon when I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma almost nine years ago. Since then, I have seen it played out in count­less settings, including a myeloma support meeting.

The moment someone mentions the word “cancer,” homegrown cancer experts emerge from behind bushes and under …

I have only once gone to a support group meeting.  Earlier this year, I attended a meeting at the local Gilda's Club because I thought Beacon columnist Pat Killingsworth was going to be attending as a guest lecturer, and I was looking forward to meeting him.  Unfortunately, the calendar on the group's website was in error, and Pat had actually been there a few months before.

Most cancer patients in the United States are probably familiar with Gilda's Club, but for those who aren't, or those who are from other countries, Gilda's …

I recently met up with an old friend of mine for lunch.

After exchanging the usual pleasantries, he began to relate to me his current dilemma.  Due to changes in the business environment, it seems that the model that his business was based upon was quickly becoming economically non-viable.

He wasn’t complaining or pounding his fists on the table about the unfairness of the world.  He simply related to me how he had been out networking and exploring all of his options, including revamping his business model, merging or closing down, and …