Living

In 1967, my dad and I were looking at photos at my grandmother's house. He held up a picture and said, "Here I am when I was about your age...

Since my diagnosis with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in August of 2020 I have been asked many times how I knew I had non-Hodgkin. The answer is I had NO idea. In...

Do we really understand what stress is? We’ve all had the displeasure of being amongst its presence and we all know what detriment it leads in our lives. I recall...

There are lots of places online that will tell you about what you should not say to a cancer patient. That includes some excellent advice on this very site. It’s...

A couple of years ago, we visited Big Bend National Park in western Texas to do some hiking. As we slowly ascended Lost Mine Trail to the ridge with its...

I have a fertility appointment in a few days. It’s all beginning to get very real now. I’m excited and also hesitant. I’m also irritated with the fertility department, as...

Have you had skin issues with your chemo? In 2012, I started oral chemotherapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). As my body slowly began to accept the treatment something was brewing underneath...

Grief is complex and looks different for everyone. Check out the definitions below. Then, scroll down and comment or copy and paste to share which type of grief you have...

I applied for Social Security Disability (SSDI) soon after I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. With a broken femur and an upcoming stem cell transplant, I qualified for disability benefits...

Living with leukemia is difficult. Seems obvious, right? But if you are not living it, sometimes it is hard to understand. Coping with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) these past six...

During my chemotherapy for blood cancer, I looked forward to life after cancer. I thought this new chapter would be filled with hope and happiness, but I felt fear and...

Chemo. We’ve all seen it on TV and in the movies so many times that many of you, like me, used it as our treatment measuring stick when we first...

When you learn cancer treatment will involve chemotherapy, it is easy to begin thinking of the many potential side effects. We have all read about the potential and ongoing bouts...

Let me start by saying that it’s a wonderful thing when you have some options when battling blood cancer. Specifically multiple myeloma, which at one time had limited treatment alternatives...

You wouldn’t think that a story about Ronald Reagan’s recovery from a gunshot wound would remind me of an experience during my blood cancer treatment. But that is what happened...

The struggle is real. I have been courageously fighting cancer for 6 years. Doctors didn't expect me to be walking, or at least not without assistance. My lower spine and...

Before I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, I had not given a second thought to the cost of prescription drugs. I had a good education, a good job, and excellent...

"Is that nice to say?" I would often ask my students. You can think anything you want but think about it before you say it aloud. Telling a classmate their hair...

When I was in seventh grade, to write a paper on restaurant jargon, I sat at the counter in a luncheonette near my house. I ate a lot of rice...

I can honestly say I’ve hit what I thought was rock bottom many times in my chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) journey. One such incident brought changes to my lifestyle that...