10 Years of Living with Leukemia

This month marks a big milestone … the 10th Anniversary of my leukemia & lymphoma diagnosis. I have decided that this is something to celebrate.

What a Difference a Week Makes

Last week this time, my head was so fuzzy, I couldn’t think straight, I spent the bulk of the day in bed because of the fatigue levels, I had had a reaction to the chemo the day before and generally felt crappy.

The New Regime

I have been on the new oral chemo protocol for a month now, and things are going along okay. Do I have any side effects? Yep. But it would be a rare thing if I didn’t react in some way to these drugs. The worst of it is shortness of breath going up and down the stairs or if I … Read More

The Winding Road Ahead

This is not a post I wanted to write. As the United States was falling into the rabbit hole of the pandemic in February/March of 2020, I was finishing up a six month cycle of chemotherapy. A cycle where we had high hopes for a long remission and perhaps a return to some sort of normalcy. Not that ANYONE had … Read More

Time Flies – Except in the Chemo Chair

PHOTO BY JORDAN BENTON Phew!! Time has been flying by so fast, I cannot keep up … with anything. I had good intent to keep everyone updated as to my progress through this round of chemo, but managed one post after Cycle 1, Day 1, and here is it a new year and I have completed Cycle 4, Day 3 … Read More

Thrills, Chills, and Oblivion – Chemo Day 1

Chemo Round 2, Cycle 1, Day 1 The image of the roller coaster is an apt description of how yesterday went. I normally try to get my chemo updates done same day, but by the time I made it home I was well and truly exhausted. The day started early because of the 0800 start time. The staff and I … Read More

The Treatment Decision

Off and on since 2013 I have kept a separate blog for keeping people up to date about my journey with cancer. The blog has been gathering dust bunnies for a while since I was in remission for two years and was on a targeted maintenance therapy for two years, and not taking anything for the last 9 months, so … Read More

The Anticipated Decision

For two years, I was on a targeted therapy drug, and it did its job. My blood values were beautiful and stable. But while it kept the cancer in check, my doctor wasn’t happy with the thought of my staying on medication for the rest of my life. So toward the end of last year we made the decision that … Read More

Infusion Day

Now that I’m a hair less exhausted and might be able to construct a legible sentence or two, I thought I’d share how my infusion day went. Because of the length of time the treatment takes, I have to be to the doctor’s office by 8:30 AM which means leaving the house around 7:30 … just in case I run … Read More

Beware of the Sypot

First off a warning to the reader: this post is likely to be riddled with sypot of all kinds — misspelled words, missing words, or maybe a sentence or two that makes absolutely no sense. I am making no apology for how you find this post, it is as I am writing it and will probably not go back when … Read More

Unexpected Infusion

I am getting to this post a little late because things happened fairly quickly and I have been on the tired side of late — kind of like the kitten passed out in the picture. After my latest cold, which took a few weeks to get rid of, I went back on my chemo treatment and when I went to … Read More

Next Up … The Common Cold

I am at the one week mark for taking the chemo and so far, I have been doing pretty well. Minimal side effects from the chemo … barring one possible exception. I have a head cold. Last Thursday I saw my orthopedist because I had some fluid on the knee and my doctor wanted an X-ray. Unfortunately, the X-ray technician … Read More