I'm leaving this morning for West (by God) Virginia, so you may not hear from me for a few days.
Keep those captions comin' in.
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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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August
(29)
- The Simple Life
- Life in the Slow Lane
- And the winner is . . .
- Think Funny - The Official Contest of Cancer Banter
- Country Roads
- Think Cure - The Official Charity of the Los Angel...
- Another Photo Caption Contest
- Exhaustion, Frustration, Distraction, Elation
- One More Day
- Whack........Whack
- Still in the Stem Cell Game
- Playing the numbers
- Laptop Dancing
- Neupogen Junkie
- A Toast to Stem Cells
- We have a winner!
- Caption Contest
- Oh, Happy Day!
- Life is a Squeezebox
- All I want for my birthday is . . . a comment.
- The Shortest Distance
- Stem Cell Mission Approved
- Mission Aborted
- Day Off from Collecting
- Stem Cell Report
- The New Day Job
- Oh, My Aching Bones!
- A Close Encounter of the Hair Kind
- Put up your Duke's!
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August
(29)
Cancer Banter
I can't die. I still have to find the perfect purse.
5 comments:
Don't forget to bring back the prized Mayo! Enjoy the visit home.
Have a very relaxing and enjoyable time... eating gravy hmmmmm :)
Will miss you.
I'm sure Ninnie Choo Choo will eaves drop and comment using my computer. Who knows, maybe post another family photo.
Oh, yes. Sue will return home with three jars of the prized mayo! Duke's has a very long shelf life.
Have a wonderful trip!! I'll miss your blogging and hope you cannot stay away from your brother's computer :-) Hugs,e
Sue arrived safely in Ravenswood, WV. She informed me there is a computer available for public use at the Ravenswood Public Library, courtesy of the Gates Foundation. Hmmmmm......I wonder if it's dial up?
We didn't have a phone in our parent's home in Ravenswood, until I went to college. Progress is slow in some parts of this great country. Our Grandmother was probably one of the last phone subscribers to have a party line. But that's another story.
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