Happy Spring- CarePages

Happy Spring

Posted Apr 20, 2012 5:16pm

Edit: REPOST FROM CAREPAGES

With Spring comes new beginnings and mine has been a busy one! On April 1st, Sean and I did the Carlsbad 5000, exactly 1 month after surgery. We have had a lot of baseball games with Sean coaching and both Josh and Zach playing. We also went camping in our RV at the Grand Canyon during spring break, getting ready for out big summer trip.

All of my doctor visits have been good. Two weeks ago, I did the leukepheresis where my blood was taken out of my body and the white blood cells separated from it and then the blood was put back into my body. It was a strange process. They put something into the blood returning to the body so that it doesn't clot and that strips the calcium out of the blood, which made my face feel numb and my bed feel like it was vibrating. Now they are turning the white blood cells into dendritic cells which will be grown with the protein from the cancer and turned into a vaccine. I will get my first vaccine on May 3rd and one every week for 3 weeks. The vaccine will "teach" my T-cells to attack the cancer and I believe the t-cells can pass through the blood-brain barrier, which almost nothing can pass through. Each day after the vaccine I will have to have my blood drawn to see how much of the vaccine is in my system.

All of this will be done at UCLA. It's a long drive, but I enjoy it because it gives my husband and I some alone time together and allows us to really talk about my treatment.

We are continuing on our vegetarian diet and I don't think we will ever go back to eating meat.

There is something about going though all of this, I am so grateful for the wonderful outcome and it has put my life into prospective. I treasure my kids and family and enjoy more than ever, every minute I have to spend with them. I can't imagine my life without going through all of this. I really feel blessed. I know that no one knows the number of their days, but it is a very surreal thing knowing that your life will be shorter than you ever thought it would be. It's something that always stays in the back of your mind no matter how hard you try not to think about it.

And I just wanted to thank my wonderful husband for going through this with me. My mom for all of the "grandma duty." My in-laws for all of their help, love, and support. All of my friends and family who have been there to help. All the prayers and prayer groups. Everyone who has brought us a meal or snack and those who have contributed to our account at Healthy Creations. I feel so blessed by all of you. I could not have gone through all of this without all of you.