I have always been a huge believer in second opinions; however, one of the most stressful and anxiety-provoking things is when the experts do not agree.  I am then in the position of having to sort through the differ­ences, try to under­stand how they have arrived at different conclusions, and then try to make a deci­sion based on available and usually inade­quate information.

It’s not exactly news to anyone with multiple myeloma that there are a lot of medi­cal decisions to be made during the course of treatment.  It’s also under­stood that …

We are currently in the peak of summer, and fresh fruit and vegetables are plen­ti­­ful and in a great variety.

This made me realize how much my diet and nutrition has changed since I was diag­nosed with multiple myeloma.

The first change that indirectly impacted my eating habits was having vertebral fractures in the spring of 2009. I was immobilized for at least a month and took a lot of medication to manage the pain. My activity levels plummeted to almost nil and so did my appetite. I just couldn’t bring myself …

I have always been a big dreamer.  Literally.

While deep in slumber, I have fought epic battles alongside caped super heroes, explored exotic distant galaxies, pitched a no-hitter in the World Series, and romanced a bevy of leading ladies of the cinema.

I’ll ask my buddies to kindly stop laughing now, please.

Unfortunately, I’ve also conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra sans pants, gotten lost on the way to my bat mitzvah (never mind that I’m neither a girl, nor am I Jewish), and accidentally collapsed a massive dinosaur exhibit at the …

This summer, for the first time in the 40 years that we have lived in New York City, my wife and I have arranged to spend weekends in “the country.”

While we knew many people who regularly went with their children to a cottage in the Catskills or the Berkshires, three to four hours away, I always marveled at the weekenders’ organizational skills. How did they compress work and household management into five days? When did they do the laundry and the grocery shop­ping? Where did they get the emotional skills necessary …

Side effects are a multiple myeloma survivor’s per­ma­nent companion.  Oh, they may change from month to month and treat­ment to treat­ment, but one way or an­other, you are forced to deal with them.

Doctors always insist you share any negative side effects (there are posi­tive ones?) with them or their nurse im­me­di­ately.  And early on, your on­col­o­gist may be quick to switch you from one therapy to another in order to avoid serious, de­bil­i­tat­ing side effects like severe skin rashes, crash­ing blood counts, or pe­riph­er­al neu­rop­athy (pain, tingling, or loss of sen­sa­tion …

Ever since I became an official cancer patient seven years ago, I’ve had a question I’ve wanted to ask other cancer patients, but I’ve been too scared.

Here goes:

Am I the only one who can’t stand the song “Live Like You Were Dying”?

If you’ve never heard this song, it’s a country song about a man in his 40s who is diagnosed with a terrible disease. The song is not specific about what the disease is, telling us only that he got some “news.”

I spent most of the next …

I recently had my first quarterly checkup since completing my treatment earlier this year. My lab results showed that everything (red and white blood cell counts, immunoglobulins, etc.) was back in the normal range, or very close to it, and there was no sign of M-proteins. The doctor indi­cated I looked to be in great shape and wished he were as fit as I am.

As a side note, when people say they wish they were as fit as I am, I can't help but think to myself that I would rather …