A lazy Sunday morning with friends in Laguna Beach - no hair, no makeup, no worries.
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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
(286)
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July
(31)
- Whatever happened to Joel?
- Funny Lady Returns to the Ice House in Pasadena
- Next Steps
- What I DIDN'T Do on Vacation
- If it looks like a duck . . . .
- Is it Wednesday yet?
- I thought she'd never leave!
- Vacation from Blogging?
- We're All Connected
- Cancer Banter on Vacation
- GREAT News!
- Talk About a Cliff Hanger
- Pretty in Polka Dots
- A Night at Hotel Hope
- Petty Woman
- "Pole Dancing" Recap
- What a Difference a Doc Makes
- Reminder: "Pole Dancing" at Dutton's, Sunday, 2-4 pm
- What Grows Around, Comes Around
- Day of Rest
- I'm a rarer bird than I thought.
- What is Surrender?
- Diary of a Bald Housewife
- Now You See It, Now You Don't
- Surrender?
- Temperature's Risin' (And so are the blood counts)
- Pole Dancing in Public: Dutton's Bookstore, July 15
- Play to Win
- Happy Hour at City of Hope
- Keep Kicking
- Personal Best, Personal Worst
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July
(31)
Cancer Banter
I can't die. I still have to find the perfect purse.
3 comments:
Finally, you've quelched my curiosity. Cool and gutsy. I can hear Mom (with a wry smile)......."Linda Sue!"
Are you still wearing eye make-up?
I like how the dog could not be less interested. Unless you're packing treats under that wig, so what?
Re. eye makeup: I very seldom wear it, even though my eyelashes have nearly vanished.
I told Cindy that I put pictures of me and my naked head on the blog. Her first question was, "Were you at least wearing makeup?" She practically disowned me when I told her I wasn't, and, by the way, I was in my PJs.
I'm having wicked fun embarrassing my 18 year old!
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