About Me

 I am 48 yrs old, I am married to Stuart, we just celebrated our 2nd annivesary on Dec,11th.  We have no children, we have 2 cats that are worse than kids (read spoiled rotten)

In March of 2004 I was diagnosed with Indolent Folliular Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, I underwent 3 cycles of chemotherapy and 20 shots of radiation. I continued to work and live my life even getting married that December. Life went on with periodic Dr visits to ensure that I was still in remission.

In November of 2005 I had a PET Scan that showed that the cancer had returned. My  Doctor at the time let me know that it had spread through to other lymph nodes in my body and that he was referring me to another Onocolgist/Hemotologist at St.Louis University Hospital.  I met with my new Dr in December and after reviewing my records and consulting with the other HEM/ONC at SLU the recommendation was that the best bet for a cure and remission was that I undergo a Stem Cell Transplant.  This was to be preceded with approximatly 12 rounds of chemo.  

In July of 2006 I was admitted to SLU for my Auto SCT (using my own cells for the transplant) It sucked being in the hospital for 3 weeks the food was terrible and I was in an isolation unit in order to prevent getting any infections while my immune system was wiped out.    

I was discharged on July 27th , it was great to be out of there finally and be able to sleep in my own bed, my own room without being woken up at ungodly hours to take my vitals and weigh me.  I ended up developing C-Diff which is a bacterial infection of the intestines and colon. I wasn’t able to eat, I threw up almost everything I tried to eat, so at discharge I weighed in at 151 pounds and I am currently about 115.  That issue finally cleared up and resolved itself.

I had a PET scan on August 24th Yeahhhhh I am in 100% remission, Dr had me coming in on a monthly basis for blood work, at the end of November he scheduled another PET as part of the follow up. That was set up for December 11th, I would be getting the results at my next visit with my Dr on Jan 4th 2007.

But impatient me called to get the results on Monday the 18th, expecting the words you are still in remission, this was not to be so, its back, its here, its there, its everywhere. I am and was devastated by this news, its  like everything I went through this past year was for naught.

So here I am facing another bumpy ride, But my mind set is as it was last year, This whole mess is just a Speedbump in my life it may slow me down but it will not stop me.  I have to much fight left in me, for Stu, for my friends and for myself to just go down without fighting this.