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News, Research

Missing in action at ASCO, ARRY-520 hot topic in Europe

Posted on June 18 2013 | 219 views

Something was missing from this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meetings in Chicago this year.  Conspicuously absent was any news about one of the most promising anti-myeloma drugs, ARRY-520.  Why?  Was there a problem with ARRY-520′s trial data?

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John Knighten 2

Inspirational, News

Broadcast features battling survivor John Knighten and family

Posted on June 17 2013 | 297 views

Good news!  Our dear friend and Patient Snapshot favorite, John Knighten, is hanging on.  Last April, John was given only a few weeks to live by his transplant team in Seattle.   But the Spokane, Washington resident and former firefighter continues to fight through severed pain caused by a massive plasmacytoma (tumor) in his sinuses.

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Research, Tips, Transplants

Consolidation Therapy? Myeloma Cinderella clues-us-in

Posted on June 15 2013 | 395 views

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Danny on mountain top

Inspirational, Tips, Transplants

Exercise & Multiple Myeloma (Part Five)

Posted on June 14 2013 | 436 views

Comments (8)

don baylor

News, Support

This should be a Cure Talk broadcast to remember!

Posted on June 13 2013 | 359 views

This is BIG NEWS!  I’m excited to announce that fellow myeloma patient, Matt Goldman and I will be on-air a week from today, interviewing former baseball great and myeloma survivor, Don Baylor, and noted myeloma expert, Dr. James Berenson.  How exciting!

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OBIT

RIP, Tips

Myeloma Updates: Revlimid, Social Security Disability assistance and a fond farewell

Posted on June 12 2013 | 483 views

This headline on a well known medical website made me laugh:

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About Pat, Diagnostics

My Medical Forecast: Partly sunny with a few clouds on the horizon

Posted on June 11 2013 | 378 views

I get a dozen or more calls and emails a day asking, “How are you doing?”  Thanks for asking!  I know I should post more about me and my health.  I joked with my new friends in the Philadelphia Multiple Myeloma Networking Group this weekend, “I already know how I’m doing!  I’m more interested in other patient stories and research news updates, not me!”  Old news.

Comments (11)

Pat hip surgery_730

About Pat, Caregivers, Inspirational

My Philadelphia meeting visit was an amazing experience!

Posted on June 10 2013 | 352 views

Thank you, Philadelphia!

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Inspirational, Support

“We’re spending a lot of money to get good care!”

Posted on June 09 2013 | 235 views

Patient advocacy can mean several different things.  These days, patient advocacy is most often used in a political sense.  For example, I learned yesterday that Florida enacted oral chemotherapy access legislation Friday, designed to equalize the cost of infusion and oral chemotherapy.  Great news!  But I’ll provide more specifics about that legislation later.  Today I would like to highlight a growing movement among multiple myeloma patients to advocate and fight for themselves.

Comments (4)

geritol

News, Research

New study reveals Iron supplementation may help Velcade work better

Posted on June 08 2013 | 282 views

Now this is exciting!  Italian researchers are using Iron supplements to enhance Velcade’s effectiveness.  Brilliant!  This is the type of research that I love to see.  Finding ways to help make the therapies we already have work better.

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Sarah-Fink

About Pat, Support

I meet some amazing cancer survivors when I travel–and sometimes without leaving home!

Posted on June 07 2013 | 1,108 views

I received several emails about Saturday’s support group meeting in Philadelphia.  Here’s the group’s announcement, complete with directions:

Comments (1)

News, Nutrition

You can still register for broadcast about nutrition tonight!

Posted on June 06 2013 | 248 views

It still isn’t too late to register to ask questions on tonight’s Nutrition broadcast. And I forgot to mention what may be the most noteworthy event of the month; a Myeloma Cure Panel featuring baseball and myeloma survivor, Don Baylor, and Dr. James Berenson from LA:

Comments (2)

andrea

About Pat, Caregivers, News, Tips

See me in Phily Saturday, listen to me on Cure Talk broadcasts all month!

Posted on June 06 2013 | 242 views

I live an hour north of Tampa on what’s called the Nature Coast, stuck smack-dab in the middle of Tropical Storm Andrea.  So far the winds aren’t too bad and we still have power.  Fortunately, our area is one of the few that features buried power lines.  Forecasters expect us to get an additional 5 inches of rain over the next two hours.  Believe it or not, that’s no big deal down here with our sandy soils and hurricane ready drainage ponds.

Comments (6)

Caregivers, Tips

Hope for the best but plan for the worst: Develop a patient care contingency plan

Posted on June 05 2013 | 349 views

What happens if your caregiver can’t help anymore?  Or if you’ve never had a caregiver in the first place?

Comments (10)

Evidence starting to mount that maintenance therapy may help us live longer

News, Research, Transplants

Evidence starting to mount that maintenance therapy may help us live longer

Posted on June 04 2013 | 519 views

Incremental baby steps.  I hope I haven’t given the wrong impression about myeloma news coming out of Chicago at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meetings.  I’ve been whining about how there hadn’t been any big myeloma related news.  That part is true.  But there are hundreds of clinical trial results being presented as posters, oral presentations or as part of ASCO’s online university.

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BREAKING NEWS: Proof you can wait to transplant!

Transplants

BREAKING NEWS: Proof you can wait to transplant!

Posted on June 03 2013 | 535 views

If you think about it, large numbers of patients have only been using Revlimid for six years or so; Velcade maybe seven or eight.  So solid survival data is just starting to pop-up.  Let me introduce you to a study, presented at ASCO, that should help shut-up the, “You need to transplant right away!” crowd.

Comments (8)

TH-302 and bendamustine combination heads-up underwhelming ASCO myeloma news

Research, Supplements/Drugs

TH-302 and bendamustine combination heads-up underwhelming ASCO myeloma news

Posted on June 03 2013 | 763 views

I have been following TH-302 for just over a year now.  Underwhelming early trial results are most likely what’s keeping it out of the news.  But unlike the elotuzumab study I wrote about yesterday, all 13 patients in this fledgling, Phase 1/2 study had at least six prior therapies, each including at least one IMiD, proteasome inhibitor and alkylating agent; by definition a “really tough crowd.”

Comments (2)

Elotuzumab study results “promisingly murky”

Research, Supplements/Drugs

Elotuzumab study results “promisingly murky”

Posted on June 02 2013 | 398 views

For me, one of the most frustrating part of reading abstracts and following oral presentation myeloma results at meetings like ASCO and ASH is that you are rarely comparing apples to apples.  Are study subjects “heavily pretreated,” “refractory,” or both.  And what about “relapsed?”  Sometimes some of these terms are used interchangeably.  Sometimes not.  Let me share an example from today’s poster session.

Comments (12)

Research, Supplements/Drugs

Financial Toxicity: If myeloma doesn’t kill us, the cost of treatment will!

Posted on June 02 2013 | 629 views

One of the myelomal blogosphere’s newest contributors, Myeloma Cinderella, turned-me-on to a fascinating article on Chemotherapy Advisor last week, Innovative Cancer Treatments Increase Patients’ ‘Financial Toxicity.’  In it, reporter Debra Hughes highlights just how expensive it can be once someone is diagnosed with cancer.  Of course, myeloma patients understand this all-too-well.  Yet the seeing the size, scope and costs firsthand can be a real eye opener!

Comments (5)

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