Where Things Stand

Round 3 Day 2

It's a small milestone, but I'll take it. I've reached the halfway point in my treatments preceding a stem cell transplant. According to the doctor, I'm responding well! The feeling is returning to my feet and my blood work is encouraging. The cancer is retreating and after another two months of treatment, I could be in remission.

Even better, there is talk of moving the stem cell transplant to early January, instead of late December. This way I could spend Christmas and our anniversary with my husband and family, instead of in the hospital away from home. We may know in another month how everything times out. As of yet, I haven’t even been officially approved for the transplant, so a lot has to happen before the end of the year.

The amount of medication I’m taking is incredible to me, but I'm getting used to it. Some of the meds are highly regulated by the FDA and I have to special order it, so that means surveys to take, hoops to jump through and lots of phone calls. Needless to say, some of the meds are also incredibly expensive.

This is why I’m full, after taking my meds in the morning!  

The side effects are not bad enough to keep me from going to work. I think I missed a day when I had a bad reaction to my infusion, but otherwise, I’m still showing up and they aren’t telling me to go home (yet). I’ll be discerning and NOT share too many specifics about the side effects, but just know they are bearable and wide and varied! It’s like a smorgasbord on some days. The most difficult for me is the tiredness and blurry vision. For someone who loves to read, this is a bummer!

The appointments, tests and management of the cancer has been a hand full. I now have one planner for regular stuff and then I have my cancer planner. 

OK, I’ve got to put in my planner that I need to come up with a better name than cancer planner!

My family is doing well, all things considered. Corey is a tremendous support and Kaylee helps me out a lot and encourages me to be brave. As always, my folks are a huge help - always willing to feed us, run errands and checking in to see what we need. All of us are processing this differently and that is to be expected. We all try to speak the truth (in love) about my condition. The only sugar coating at our house is on cookies.

That’s where things stand – hopefully that brings you up to speed! I’m sure there will be more to report on when the transplant get closer and the cancer will be restaged.

Here is a picture of my “bad day basket.” My mom put this together with gifts for me to open on bad days. Right now it holds my prayer shawls as well. One is from a church here in town that does this as part of their ministry for people in the community. Another is from my childhood home church in Kansas. And the third one is from the Prayer Shawl Ministry at the church where I work. The blood cancer makes my hands and feet especially cold, so I’m set for cooler weather!

Thanks again everyone for the cards, the food, the gifts and especially the prayers!