Living

I’ve never been without a pet. Until recently. It’s a lonely feeling. Something is missing and I search for it in little creaks and noises when my mind is wandering...

The beauty of words is that most of the time they can mean different things to different people. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's not. In this day of...

Even if you are on your own, you can take this blood cancer journey. Not everyone has a big, smiling support group on the sidelines cheering them on. That’s okay...

Fatigue. I know, it gets talked about all the time when cancer is the discussion topic du jour. I have even talked about it myself, more than once, but I...

I hate mice! As an elementary school teacher, students loved to bring critters to school for show and tell. I didn't even flinch when a student brought in a giant...

Approximately seven months ago, I wrote two articles on my experiences starting a nonprofit. Part 2 was primarily about mistakes made and lessons I learned. It ends with a piece...

I’ve been going through doctors like candy. My original oncologist left the insurer. The next doctor, whom I liked very much, retired. My current doctor seems nice but I only...

There are many choices to contemplate when blood cancer strikes, but determining whether or not to continue your employment has to be a huge factor. Unfortunately, for many, the choice...

In October comes Halloween! And with Halloween comes candy, lots and lots of candy. It’s in all the stores and every kind is available. There’s chocolate, gooey, hard, soft, and...

The one missing piece to my story thus far is the impactful tale of my first (and only so far) bone marrow biopsy. It was six years ago so some...

When I relapsed three-and-a-half years after my autologous transplant, I was surprised – well, actually dismayed – to learn that I would get a new doctor for my upcoming allogeneic...

Recently a friend told me about a movie that made him not just cry, but sob. I am a sucker for those kinds of movies, so I knew I had...

Learning you have cancer is just the first step, muddling through what follows is often a mind-blowing journey of uncertainty. By age 77, I had faced cancer twice before. At...

Rainbows, puppies, and unicorns are in short supply at the moment. Sorry, my natural sarcasm is at the forefront. Today is day three of non-stop nausea and annoying pain that...

On an idle, rainy Saturday, I started thinking about the phrase “bad blood.” The Bad Blood title, per my Google research, is used in a number of forums in music...

Patients with a cancer diagnosis may experience feelings of fear, helplessness, and shock. I can remember all of these emotions when first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A range of reactions...

Just my luck to get something no one understands! "You have WHAT? MDS? Don't you mean MS?" people have said to me. No, I have a type of blood cancer...

2020 has been a tumultuous year for so many. This pandemic has been a mess literally for those affected by this virus, and those losing their jobs because of it...

I think I'll start this one off with a random question. In the end, it may or may not have much to do with this article but I'll give it...