Author Archives: Lori Puente

D(ex)-Day

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Lori Puente

“Take cover – it’s DEX DAY!” – Myeloma Caregivers joking around with each other on the subject of the steroid, Dexamethasone.  Dexamethasone, is a love/hate relationship. It has clearly been shown to enhance the chemotherapy drugs myeloma patie ...

Labyrinth VIII, The Long Good-bye

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Lori Puente

“Being there and helping someone I love, in the leaving of their earthly body, was a profound gift that I was honored she allowed me to do for her. In many ways it was she who gave me the gift and not the other way around.” Lori Puente, on the death and dying of ...

Labyrinth VII,The In-Between Stage

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Lori Puente

“If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.” - Lao Tzu From Gail Sheehy’s Eight Labyrinths and the book Passages in Caregiving: . . . . . . . . . VII. ...

Labyrinth VI, Coming Back

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Lori Puente

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) From Gail Sheehy’s Eight Labyri ...

Labyrinth VI, Coming Back

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Lori Puente

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) From Gail Sheehy’s Eight Labyri ...

Labyrinth V, The Meltdown

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Lori Puente

“Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s the dealing with it.” From Gail Sheehy’s Eight Labyrinths and the book Passages in Caregiving: . . . . . . . . V. “I Can’t Do This Anymore!” You were convinced you could do it differently. You’d b ...

Father/Son Super Bowl

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Lori Puente

“We’re here! Superrrrr Bowlllllllll!” – Text Dave has been blessed this year with a couple of companies that have gifted him with football tickets. We got two sets for the championship games with the San Francisco 49ers and then he couldn’t beli ...

Hang in…

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Lori Puente

So I’ve had a couple of friends both in and out of Myelomaville check on me with these latest posts being rather “serious” and difficult. I’m good. I started to write about these one by one each day without really processing the whole sequence fully. ...

Labyrinth IV, Playing God

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Lori Puente

“…you’re the only one who truly understands what he or she needs.” – Gail Sheehy, Passages in Caregiving Gail Sheehy’s Labyrinth IV is Playing God.  “By now you’ve become a seasoned caregiver. You’re good at it and the only person ...

Labyrinth III, Boomerang

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Lori Puente

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain!” – Unknown  In Gail Sheehy’s Eight Labyrinths of Caregiving, Labyrinth III is the Boomerang. A boomerang is an aerodynamically shaped object design ...

Walking a Labyrinth and The New Normal

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Lori Puente

There is not a ‘required way’ to walk a labyrinth. The beauty of the labyrinth is that people can approach the experience on their own terms. However, as a guideline, we often break the ‘walk’ into three stages. Entering: (also referred to as shedding ...

Caregiving Labyrinth I

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Lori Puente

“The caregiver’s journey is different. It does not proceed from stage to stage in a neat fashion. It is definitely not linear. It feels like we are going around in circles, thinking we have resolved a crisis only to have it return or be superseded by a different, une ...

Loving Labyrinth of Caregiving – Gail Sheehy

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Lori Puente

“I had an inspiration while walking a labyrinth. You go in circles, sudden twists and turnings. It’s a lot like the surprises and complications we face on our journey as caregivers.  A labyrinth has one true path. It can eventually lead us to the center, but you ...

Changing Cytogenetics

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Lori Puente

“The rules of the past no longer apply.” – Ken Anderson, MD, Dana Farber An interview with Ken Anderson at the 53rd ASH Conference on New Therapies and Changing Cytogenetics, that might be of some interest and value to those of you with abnormalities that w ...

Stand by Me

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Lori Puente

“When the night has come And the land is dark And the moon is the only light we’ll see No I won’t be afraid, no I won’t be afraid Just as long as you stand, stand by me” – Lyrics Early in Dave’s diagnosis, I ran across this video, fi ...

Dr. Tricot, Iowa

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Lori Puente

Guido Tricot, MD, PhD, is the director of Holden Cancer Center’s Bone Marrow Transplant and Myeloma Program at UI Hospitals and Clinics. He specializes in multiple myeloma and has been researching and treating this type of cancer for over 20 years. Dr. Tricot, who had been ...

Jack Aiello Interview

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Lori Puente

Andrew Schorr: Are you optimistic? Jack Aiello: I’ve said to patients for the last 10 years, if you’re going to be diagnosed with myeloma it’s a lot better now than it was 15 years ago. And that holds true, year after year after year… Thanks David at ...

Struggling with Remission? What!

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Lori Puente

“Frankly remission is an awkward place. In fact beyond the normal wear & tear of aging, I now look & feel as well as I did before I became ill. But I have not been able to go forward as though nothing had happened, & that is because something has happened & it happened ...

Simple Pleasures

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Lori Puente

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” ― Helen Keller In light of recent dialog on how to live with cancer, I thought I would share with you how much th ...

The “Head Game!”

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Lori Puente

“Before I even knew what we would do, what the treatment would be, or it’s outcome, I had to get Dave’s head in the game!” – Lori Puente There is a wonderful article over at The Myeloma Beacon, by Kevin Jones where he talks about the battle betw ...