I've been in NYC since Thursday evening. I love this place, but it is a pigsty. The streets have I don't know what on them (better take your shoes off upon entering your abode) and every surface has been greased by the millions of folks passing by. We live at Ground Zero, so there's a steady stream of people beating the pavement, touching the subway rail as well as all surfaces in stores. I wash my hands compulsively when I return to my apartment, but I've inexplicably left the hand sanitizer in much cleaner Rhode Island.
So far, I've been fine.
Even Whole Foods has been a challenge. We bought organic spinach there to make for dinner and it had a live insect in it. Marty freaked out. You can't buy a nitrate to save your life at Whole Foods, but bugs are free on the salads.
My doctor has given me clearance to travel to Europe in a couple of weeks to visit friends in Toulouse. I didn't ask his permission; my concerned husband did. Said doctor and husband have determined that with liberal use of hand sanitizer, I should be fine. I should avoid unpasturized cheese, but that's a small price to pay for drinking good wine. And red wine is good for the immune system so I'll be sure to do a lot of it.
Join me on wordinthewoods.blogspot.com for more Manhattan Happenings.
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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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