I’m fond of saying, “I still have a number of myeloma ther­a­py op­tions, but none of them are good.” The last part is a re­flec­tion of in­vesti­ga­tional work I’ve done speaking with a number of myeloma experts I know.

For two months, I’ve promised to share which direction my lovely wife, Pattie, and I have decided to go in terms of my next treat­ment. After six months of pros and cons lists, con­ver­sa­tions with readers, family, friends, and other myeloma sur­vivors, we’ve made a decision. We were em­bold­ened after shift­ing through piles of therapy and …

A recently published study may change the goals many myeloma special­ists use to make treatment decisions for newly diagnosed myeloma pa­tients planning on having a stem cell transplant.

The study also has potentially broader implications. Indeed, it may influ­ence ongoing debate on a fundamental controversy about how multiple myeloma, in general, should be treated.

The authors of the new study looked at data for 539 myeloma patients who failed to achieve even a partial response to their initial (induction) treat­ment regimen after diagnosis.

After their initial treatment failed, some of the 539 patients …

In many of my previous columns, I have stipulated that I am very fortunate with what I have experienced so far with multiple myeloma.

My condition is far less serious than that of most of the other Beacon columnists and probably the vast majority of my readers. Every form of treatment I have re­ceived so far – radiation, induction therapy, and autol­o­gous stem cell trans­plan­ta­tion – has been suc­cess­ful. Modern medicine had done its part for me.

Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that I have not done my part to …

This past Sunday was the second day of the American Society of Hema­tology’s (ASH) annual meeting, which was held in San Francisco.

As on the first day of the meeting, myeloma-related pre­sen­ta­tions once again took place during several sessions through­out the day.

A myeloma-related education session held the first day of the conference was repeated once again on Sunday morning.

While the education session was being held, a separate “scientific sym­po­sium” with two oral pre­sen­ta­tions took place in parallel.  The session focused on a novel immuno­therapeutic ap­proach to treating cancer known as …

This year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) began yesterday morning in San Francisco.

Myeloma-related presentations were made during several sessions throughout the day.

The day started out with a session designed to better educate physicians about multiple myeloma and how to treat the disease.

Two sessions of oral presentations devoted solely to multiple myeloma ran simultaneously in the middle of the day. One of the sessions focused on the biology of the disease. The other one included presentations on new myeloma ther­a­pies for both newly diagnosed and re­lapsed and …

During my 25-year career as a boy’s basketball head coach, I coached over 600 games.

Regardless of whether it was the 1983 Class A state championship game in my rookie year as a head coach (we lost), or games against opponents that we were overwhelming favorites to defeat, my state of mind the night before each one of those 600 plus games never changed.

That state of mind is difficult to describe. It was one of unbearable ex­cite­ment, tempered by an actual feeling of fear. Fear that I had not prepared the …

Despite being a lifelong Boston Celtics fan, one of my favorite coaches is former Los Angeles Lakers coach Pat Riley.

I know that sounds traitorous to most Celtics fans, es­pe­cial­ly con­sider­ing the fierceness of the teams’ rivalry in the early and mid 1980s:  Bird versus Magic, Showtime versus Blue Collar, Kareem versus The Chief, McHale versus Worthy.

With all due respect to Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and the rest of the NBA today, those were the glory days of the NBA!

As a young coach during that time, I consumed everything Pat …