Goodbye fresh tomatoes and basil.
Farewell peaches and plums.
Hello squash and pumpkins.
Welcome soups and stews.
Summer is fading. Fall is here. Find out more at Open Mouth, Insert Fork.
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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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2008
(187)
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September
(23)
- The Ultimate Buns
- I saved $5.00 today!
- Talking makes me tired
- Saying Goodbye to Summer
- Picture Perfect
- Martha Immersion Monday
- The Lazy Woman's Guide to Blogging
- Woo Hoo! We've surpassed the $1,500 goal!
- Healthy Cravings
- Click your way to an Italian brunch
- Last Call for Light the Night
- Bounty Hunting
- Trespassers Picnic
- This Old House
- Testing the Limits
- Light the Night
- Bob in a Box
- Spam-a-Lot: Spam Musubi and Spam Fried Rice
- Happy Birthday, Ann
- Are We Having Fun Yet? (Losing and Finding 25 Pounds)
- What I Learned from the RNC
- It's All Relative
- Comfort and Joy
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September
(23)
Cancer Banter
I can't die. I still have to find the perfect purse.
3 comments:
ha ha - well, here in Australia we are the opposite! It's hello to rocket (arugula?) and lettuce and spinach picked from the garden, and peaches and nectarines just starting to appear in the shops ... Tomatoes starting to ripen on the vine, corn and melon seeds being planted - oh it's a wonderful time of year!
But I know that when summer comes (December onwards) it'll be too hot to be doing much gardening except for early morning/evenings, so have to make the most of it while I can ...
I looked at your three recipes and they all sound like something I'd like to try if they're not too difficult. Hey did you say the temperature is in the low 80s? Harumph. We out here in New England are sitting here in sweat pants and sweat shirts (with the hood up) because we don't want to turn on the heat! One of these days I might have to move. When I come visit for that cup of tea with PJ maybe you won't be able to kick me out.
Susie, I see that I will have to make a trip to Australia to get a decent tomato. Doesn't quite fit in with my local produce philosophy, but I could combine the tomato hunt with a visit to a former "cell mate."
Ronni, I'll be trying these recipes soon, and if they're easy I'll write about them. I have no interest in the complicated. Sweat pants? Geesh. No wonder all the food bloggers have turned to comfort food.
Cute about the guest who came for tea but didn't leave. : )
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