Twelve years ago, in 2003, I went to a neurosurgeon because I had excruciating pain that kept increasing. The doctor looked at the MRI and saw fractured vertebrae, which were pushing against my spinal cord. Within ten minutes, I was on a gurney and admitted to St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon. I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

When I was diagnosed, a doctor told me to “get my affairs in order” because the survival rate was just a few years. Thanks to the new treatment options, multiple myeloma is becoming a chronic illness. Now I get an infusion once a month to keep my bones strong. No more burst vertebrae, hopefully!

Viktor Frankl who wrote Man’s Searching for Meaning, wrote that we can choose our response to whatever happens in our lives. I have the inner resources to live with myeloma until there is a cure.