1) eat chocolate
2) cast spell on evil nutrition nazi
3) invent under armour hospital gown
4) don't dream it--be it
5) create white blood cells
6) do stomach crunches (note: find stomach)
7) brush up my Shakespeare
9) laugh (and yeah I skipped #8)
10) live a little
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Adirondack Mountains, Feb. 2007
Tale of a Cord Blood Transplantee Who Relapses and Goes on to Have a Matched Unrelated-Donor Transplant
The Weight
Adirondack Mountains, Feb. 2007
ABOUT ME
In March 2006, I was diagnosed with a blood cancer called Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Life as I knew it came to a crashing halt. After enduring a month in the hospital where I received intense chemotherapy, I was declared "in remission." I had three additional treatments and remained cancer-free until May 2007, when I relapsed.
My only shot at survival was to have a stem cell transplant. However, my brothers' immune markers didn't match mine, and an international search of bone marrow registries found no perfect matches. A transplant using the blood from two umbilical cords was recommended. I grasped at this straw in September 2007. It seemed to work.
This blog tells the story of my transplant and recovery, replete with outrageous slings and arrows. The expression "blood is thicker than water" has new meaning for me. I remained alive due to the blood of strangers, two of them, both male. Thanks guys.
The plot thickened when I relapsed 19 months into my new remission and had to go through the same rigamarole once more. This time, I received stem cells from a matched adult donor who was identified last go round but didn't fit into the necessary time frame. Charles Dickens could have fun with this, the stuff of pulp fiction.
I remain in remission 4 years later. My donor keeps leukemic cells in check but finds interesting ways to attack my body. Chronic graft versus host disease keeps me firmly entrenched in the medical world. And so it goes.
My only shot at survival was to have a stem cell transplant. However, my brothers' immune markers didn't match mine, and an international search of bone marrow registries found no perfect matches. A transplant using the blood from two umbilical cords was recommended. I grasped at this straw in September 2007. It seemed to work.
This blog tells the story of my transplant and recovery, replete with outrageous slings and arrows. The expression "blood is thicker than water" has new meaning for me. I remained alive due to the blood of strangers, two of them, both male. Thanks guys.
The plot thickened when I relapsed 19 months into my new remission and had to go through the same rigamarole once more. This time, I received stem cells from a matched adult donor who was identified last go round but didn't fit into the necessary time frame. Charles Dickens could have fun with this, the stuff of pulp fiction.
I remain in remission 4 years later. My donor keeps leukemic cells in check but finds interesting ways to attack my body. Chronic graft versus host disease keeps me firmly entrenched in the medical world. And so it goes.
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2009
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May
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- Day at the Beach
- Goals for Today
- My Blood Pressure Also Rises
- Free, and Trying to Stay That Way
- Tortured Notes
- The PJFF Wants YOU!
- Jottings of the Day
- Hot Hot Hot
- Hemoglobin the Hard Way
- Navigating the Nadir
- Mellow Yellow
- Kafkaesque
- No Neutrophils
- Infinite Jest--What Would You Call It?
- All My Trials, Soon Be Over
- No Exit
- Temporarily Offline
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3 comments:
Admirable goals Patty! I think that your first and last goals are pretty much the same!! Keep thinking good thoughts - I hear they are good for creating white cells!
I like your goals.
Chocolate will help your potassium level!
Thank you for reminding me to do my exercises. I haven't been that good about it.
Dori just said, from the other room, "You're reading PJ."
Yup, busted for laughing my arse off.
Jim
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