Multiple myeloma patients experience a wide range of emotions: panic, fear, apprehension, anger, and frustration, to name a few. Undergoing medical testing and cancer therapies can be uncomfortable or downright painful.

But often, the hardest part is all of the waiting. Spending long hours in the waiting room. Spending days or weeks afterwards anxiously waiting for test results. Then waiting to meet with your doctor to decide what to do.

And there is another type of waiting all well-informed multiple myeloma patients are forced to endure—a lifetime of waiting and worrying about …

Dexamethasone, which is also sold under the brand name Decadron, is a powerful corticosteroid. Multiple myeloma patients can use dexamethasone by itself or in combination with a number of other anti-myeloma agents.

Dexamethasone (dex) works so well with novel therapy agents like Velcade (bortezomib) and Revlimid (lenalidomide), the manufacturer should come up with an advertising slogan like: “Multiple myeloma drugs work better with dex!”

Dex can reduce inflammation and reduce bone pain. Most importantly, it contains powerful, unknown anti-myeloma properties! Because it has been around long enough to go generic, …

In this week’s column I would like to share some of my observations and thoughts about where I think the treatment of multiple myeloma is heading.

First, the good news: More drugs are being developed now for myeloma than for any other cancer. And, for the most part, they are working! These drugs—pomalidomide, carfilzomib, perifosine, Zolinza (vorinostat), etc.—most often work best when combined with other approved novel therapy agents thalidomide (Thalomid), Revlimid (lenalidomide), and/or Velcade (bortezomib).

Maintenance therapy after a stem cell transplant is proving …

I want to thank all of the readers who took the time to pass along helpful tips for staying positive last week.

Keeping a positive attitude in the face of a cancer diagnosis and treatment isn’t easy. But a positive attitude is the cornerstone of improving any patient’s quality of life during treatment.

Enough with the general, philosophical stuff! Here are a few practical suggestions to help multiple myeloma patients and caregivers make it through their day:

Keep moving. Go for a walk. Stretch for ten minutes. Swim. Roll your wheel chair …

Last week, I promised to share a few tips that some of my multiple myeloma friends use to stay positive.

Staying positive does not cure cancer—and it probably doesn’t help extend a patient’s life. Surprised? Don’t be. There are a number of studies which prove this to be the case, including a large, 1,000 patient study, published in 2007 in the American Cancer Society’s journal Cancer.

A reader once commented on one of my blogs, “Pushing the idea that a positive attitude can help defeat cancer may leave some patients feeling …

Before I get started, a word of warning: This column isn’t going to be a collection of tips on “how to handle dexamethasone side-effects.” I would be glad to write about that sometime in the future.

No, this column is about how patients can and should philosophically deal with side-effects caused by their multiple myeloma therapy. Philosophically? “What does philosophy have to do with my peripheral neuropathy or inconvenient constipation?” you might ask.

Here’s the thing. I don’t want to discourage patients from venting about their “dex days,” fatigue, or peripheral neuropathy. …

Last week, I spoke briefly with Greg Geissman, a public relations contact at Celgene, about the projected timeline for a new Phase 3 pomalidomide  research study in multiple myeloma.

As Greg finished describing the timeline, my mind wondered. I began to think about how different people view time.

Greg explained that it will take six months or more to find enough qualifying patients willing to participate in the study. The study itself will then take several years to complete. A successful result will hopefully lead to FDA fast track approval, which …