Multiple Myeloma: A Patient's Perspective — What It Is, What To Do, and How To Cope

Being diagnosed with multiple myeloma is overwhelming. You’re suddenly faced with unfamiliar terms, complicated treatment decisions, and a future that feels deeply uncertain. Multiple Myeloma—A Patient’s Perspective is written to help you get your footing.

This book is a practical, plain-spoken guide to the disease, the treatments, and the day-to-day realities of living with myeloma. It explains what’s happening in your body, what your lab results really mean, how treatments are chosen, and what side effects you’re most likely to encounter—without assuming a medical background but also without glossing over the hard parts.

Along the way, it focuses on the things patients most want to know but often hesitate to ask: how this will affect your quality of life, how to prepare for appointments, how to manage fatigue and pain, how to navigate the healthcare system, and how to stay grounded emotionally. Whether you’re newly diagnosed, in treatment, or supporting someone you love, this book is meant to be a steady companion—clear, honest, and on your side.

About the Author

Grant W. Petty is a scientist and a long-term multiple myeloma patient. He was diagnosed in 2018 and has lived through the treatments, side effects, uncertainties, and adjustments that define life with this disease.

As a retired professor of atmospheric science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he is the author of several widely used textbooks. By necessity, he has also become an expert patient—learning to interpret lab results, ask better questions, and navigate a complex medical system over years of treatment. This book grew out of the resource he wished he’d had at diagnosis: one place where the science, the medicine, and the lived experience come together. His goal is not to tell you what to do, but to help you understand what’s happening—so you can make decisions with confidence and face the road ahead a little less alone.

Book Details

Contents at a Glance