Late last year, my mother-in-law, Marie, lost her long battle with colon cancer. A few months before she died, I remember visiting her in the nursing home on a particularly bad day in September.

Marie was in pain—a lot of pain. I checked with the nurses station. The evening nurse was sympathetic, but unable or unwilling to help.

Fast forward one week. Marie seemed to be doing better. But not before my wife, Pattie, and I "rattled a few cages" and convinced Marie's physician, nurses, and nursing home personnel to take …

Among the challenges of being a fledgling, freelance medical writer, such as no steady paycheck and last minute deadlines, there are also some advantages. My schedule is flexible, and I get to meet some really smart, interesting people. Sometimes I even get to meet heroes. Yesterday, I met both.

Dr. Lee Green and Cathy Grant run a program at Moffitt Cancer Center called Moffitt Diversity. The program is designed to increase minority participation among researchers, staff, and patients at Moffitt—and it's working.

In 2009, the program started a neighborhood cancer outreach program …

As a multiple myeloma patient, it can be difficult discussing our cancer with other people. It’s not that it’s hard to talk about myeloma, but it’s hard to know how much to share or not share – how much does the other person really want to know?

I had a somewhat unique experience of knowing a multiple myeloma patient before my myeloma diagnosis.

Loren Liedl was a dear friend of mine. He was a quiet family man who lived with multiple myeloma for over twelve years before he died late last …

If you are a multiple myeloma patient, you probably understand the costs associated with your cancer. Unlike some people who probably need to trim their budget by bringing a bag lunch to work or skipping their daily latte, that kind of “fiscal responsibility” won't help much with monthly chemotherapy bills totaling as much as $7,000 a month or more!

Financially surviving multiple myeloma takes careful budgeting and planning—no fun when you are already sick and stressed. Here are some tips to help begin or refine your new cancer related budget and financial …

After reading last week's column, hopefully you have had some time to ponder the all-important question: What am I going to do with the rest of my post-cancer life?

As you continue to identify your post-cancer priorities, it is time to set some goals to help make your new life plan a reality.

Goal setting can be difficult for any cancer patient—but especially for those with multiple myeloma. We live in a “no man's land” filled with uncertainty. Many of us are living longer than patients who came before us. Some …

Last week, I wrote that it’s important to develop a life plan after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma. In order to create a plan, you need to set goals and create a budget, but it’s hard to do either of those unless you have a feel for what you want to do or achieve.

This is one of life's most difficult questions: What do you want to do with the rest of your life?

Didn't you hate hearing that question from your parents or teachers when you were young? Talk about …

Three months after my initial multiple myeloma diagnosis in the spring of 2007, my oncologist at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Zeldenrust, looked me in eyes and said, “The average Stage II patient lives 43 months.”

That's less than four years. It was an accurate, honest answer at the time. I had pushed and prodded him to give me a prognosis. Like many patients, I needed some idea about how to plan for my now shortened future.

I was 51 years old. My wife, Pattie, and I were both full time realtors. We raised …