Hello Myeloma Community. It is time for an update from the 64th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.

Arriving on Thursday, I had the opportunity to spend time with my dear friend, Angela Dispenzieri as we walked around the French Quarter and took in the sites. We found a well-known location, Pat O’Brien’s, a location that I have been to at previous ASH meetings and have fond memories.

Friday started with convening with all the Support Group Leaders (SGL), both virtual and in person, for our orientation meeting. A chance for us to meet the “newbies” (Diane Hunter & Nick Lenoir) and get reacquainted with the “veterans” (Jack Aiello, Becky Bosley, Jessie Daw, John DeFlice, Linda Huegulet, Gail McCray) and hear from our highly organized leaders (Robin & Michael Tuohy, Jonathan Fitzpatrick). I really commend Robin & her team for all the time it takes to organize the SGL@ASH program to make it run so smoothly! We reviewed the ASH sessions of interest and importance, trying to “divide and conquer” our way through the multiple simultaneous sessions on multiple myeloma beginning Saturday.

From there, we headed over to the International Myeloma Foundation/Clinical Care Options educational symposium to hear updates from an amazing panel of world-class physicians.

IMF Support Group Leaders prepare for the IMF/CCO Satellite Symposium.
Panel of Physicians at the IMF/CCO Satellite Symposium

Bonus appearance by Dr. Yi Lin (Chair of the Cellular Cross-Disciplinary Group, Mayo Clinic—Rochester, MN).

We completed our day with a Welcome Dinner & an early night (9:00 PM), knowing Saturday would be an early start & a late finish. This was an outline of our day, even before the official start to ASH, and considered a “light” day. A future blog will bring highlights of actual ASH.

To see updates from other SGLs, view their blogs and Tweets from:
@imfsupport @imfmikemyeloma @johnde1Myeloma @jackMAiello @LindaMyeloma @blondie1746 @MidAtlanticMSG @Daw6Jessie @JillZitzewitz @IMFgailMyeloma @mmyelomaliving @DianeHunterMM

Teresa Miceli, RN BSN OCN

SGL Nurse Liaison

SGL@ASH