Living with Multiple Myeloma

Books fill and color my life.  They entertain and sometimes reassure me.  I enjoy the many places and  people that I have met in my books, they are my companions and my educators.  In this strange chapter of my life where all that I took for granted has been turned upside down,  I would like to pass along a few titles that have helped me as a newly diagnosed person.  Some have information, all three provided inspiration.  I hope that you find them as helpful as I have.   A Lucky Life Interrupted by Tom Brokaw.  This book provides a lay of the land for Multiple Myeloma treatment by Tom Brokaw who was diagnosed in 2013 and went into remission the following year.  His explanations of the stem cell harvest process and the bone marrow transplant were good reference material for anyone who might have these procedures.  It helped me understand treatments and processes in a way that made me feel much more relaxed about having them.  T...

I am not, and never have been, a Grateful Dead fan.  Not even a little bit.  I do find one strange symptom of aging, however, is that I repeat small clips of the same song over and over in my head constantly.  What A Long Strange Trip It's Been.  I'm only about a third of the way through. I had been trying to decide whether to continue with KRD (chemo) and proceed to the bone marrow transplant or try a novel, and undocumented, approach of stopping chemo and doing radiation (only) to reduce the tumor in my back. There is no data to indicate the success of this approach.  The benefits of the radiation approach is that I would give my body a break from these toxic chemo chemicals, and side effects, and give my immune system some respite from the havoc the chemo drugs wreak.  It was a much easier path.   When I asked the Road Less Traveled (radiation) doctor what the worst thing that could happen by following his approach, he said that the only downside is...