Two of my favorite nurses, Beatriz and Margaret,
take a spin with my "dancing partner."
take a spin with my "dancing partner."
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March 2008 - Sometimes I feel like a wig.
Sometimes I don't.
Up a tree and feeling on top of the world
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Be the Match!
Links
- About Stem Cell Transplants
- Asians for Miracle Marrow Match (A3M)
- City of Hope
- City of Hope: Donating Blood or Platelets
- Daily Survival Guide for Serious Illness (Gilda's Club and the Tom McDermitt Fund)
- Histopathology of MCL
- Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
- Lymphoma Information Network
- Lymphoma Research Foundation
- Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium
- National Cancer Institute
- Your Brain After Chemo
What does a writer do when she finds out she has stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma? She blogs. Because, as everyone knows, cancer sucks, but blogging rocks.
On January 26, 2007, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma (blastic variety), a rare, aggressive and treatment-resistant form of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
My team at the City of Hope decided to bring out the big guns - six rounds of Hyper CVAD followed by an autologous stem cell transplant. I bounced back after each round of chemo, but my blood counts didn't.
After four rounds we called chemo quits and started collecting stem cells for the auto stem cell transplant. The harvesting took three tries, two drugs and eight weeks, but I finally eked out the minimum two million stem cells.
After megadoses of chemo, I received my stem cells on November 14 and 15, 2007. I bounced back almost immediately. Best of all, I achieved complete remission from the Mantle Cell Lymphoma.
In January 2008, I was hospitalized for 11 days for chemo-induced pneumonia. I bounced back.
In the summer of 2008, my eosinophils (a component of the white blood cells) rose to dangerous levels and infiltrated my lungs and GI tract. My weight dropped to 105 pounds, and I was incapacitated for nearly three months. Once again, I bounced back.
I continue to make monthly visits to the City of Hope for blood tests and check ups, quarterly visits for maintenance Rituxan and semi-annual visits for scans.
I'm still in remission and have more energy than ever. And about that perfect purse? I keep looking.
Here are a few other things keeping me busy:
My food blog, Open Mouth, Insert Fork
My consulting business, A New Leaf Communications
The Orange Cat, a site for family fun in the San Gabriel Valley
A3M - Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches
YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley
IWOSC - Independent Writers of Southern California
On January 26, 2007, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma (blastic variety), a rare, aggressive and treatment-resistant form of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
My team at the City of Hope decided to bring out the big guns - six rounds of Hyper CVAD followed by an autologous stem cell transplant. I bounced back after each round of chemo, but my blood counts didn't.
After four rounds we called chemo quits and started collecting stem cells for the auto stem cell transplant. The harvesting took three tries, two drugs and eight weeks, but I finally eked out the minimum two million stem cells.
After megadoses of chemo, I received my stem cells on November 14 and 15, 2007. I bounced back almost immediately. Best of all, I achieved complete remission from the Mantle Cell Lymphoma.
In January 2008, I was hospitalized for 11 days for chemo-induced pneumonia. I bounced back.
In the summer of 2008, my eosinophils (a component of the white blood cells) rose to dangerous levels and infiltrated my lungs and GI tract. My weight dropped to 105 pounds, and I was incapacitated for nearly three months. Once again, I bounced back.
I continue to make monthly visits to the City of Hope for blood tests and check ups, quarterly visits for maintenance Rituxan and semi-annual visits for scans.
I'm still in remission and have more energy than ever. And about that perfect purse? I keep looking.
Here are a few other things keeping me busy:
My food blog, Open Mouth, Insert Fork
My consulting business, A New Leaf Communications
The Orange Cat, a site for family fun in the San Gabriel Valley
A3M - Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches
YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley
IWOSC - Independent Writers of Southern California
March 2008 - Sometimes I feel like a wig.
Sometimes I don't.
January 2009
Up a tree and feeling on top of the world
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2007
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April
(31)
- Coming to You from the City of Hope
- I Have Chemo Brain. What's Your Excuse?
- I'll have a side of fatigue with that chemo.
- A Spoonful of Atavan Helps the Medicine Go Down
- Transfusion Confusion
- Minimize, Maximize, Equalize
- Bald is Beautiful?
- More Slumber
- ZZZZZZZZZ
- Dancing with the Stars
- Pole Dancing
- Walking the Walk and Riding the Ride
- Tick-Tock, Tick tock
- Shampoo
- Food, Prizes and Celebrations
- Round One Roundup
- The Cancer Card
- It's the 'roids, man!
- Life's Synchronicity
- Surprises at the City of Hope
- The Right Size Bag for the Right Size Job
- Cancer Thriver
- Comment Housekeeping
- A New Favorite Thing
- Homecoming
- Cover Girl
- Hospital Novelty Factor
- Best. News. Ever.
- Best. Pizza. Ever.
- True or False?
- Dreaming of Food
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April
(31)
Cancer Banter
I can't die. I still have to find the perfect purse.
5 comments:
Do your nurses all wear masks over their faces when they come in your room? Or did they just don the masks so it would look like a picture from a costume party?
Karen, Sad to say that the nurses and all the staff are required to wear the masks when they visit my room. You'd think I was sick or something!
Surely they aren't afraid of catching anything from you. Cancer's not contagious! Do they wear them so that YOU won't catch anything? If so, why do let you pole dance all around the place?!
Nice photo. May I make a suggestion? Your "partner" is very bland looking. He needs a face, arms, maybe a boa, whatever. What's his name? Turn him into Liberace. Put some life into it. You'll have the best pole on the planet. Your visitors could make an addition during each visit. Maybe this would encourage the other 'guests' of CoH to get going. Or is any of this allowed?
Love ya.
Note to self: Buy stock in companies that make masks and gloves.
They use 20 a day on Susan alone!
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