I think I may have gained another two pounds from lunch today.
Go to Open Mouth, Insert Fork and check out the decadent, end-of-summer picnic friends and I enjoyed today.
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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.
2 comments:
Wow.
That's impressive. I also wrote about food today. I have to say it didn't turn out as well as I expected. Yours looks delicious. I e-mailed myself the fried chicken recipe.
Oh darn, I was reading about your chopping and sauteing and my mouth was really watering. Sorry it didn't come out as good as you expected. You usually can't go wrong with good, fresh ingredients from the farmers market.
At least you had fun - right?!?
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