Life's Surprises

Life is full of surprises and I am here to update you on my latest unexpected surprise. As you may recall from my previous entry, the transplant process was going as well as expected and things were very hopeful. Arrangements had been made for me to exit the transplant clinic and to return to my regular oncologist and begin what would hopefully be a long course of maintenance. I was on day +36 quickly and eagerly approaching the "magic" day +45, when I began to fall into a low energy slump. Since things had been going so well, and slumps of this kind are not uncommon in the recovery process, no one seemed very concerned, nevertheless, they continued to monitor me closely. Shortly after the slump began, it began to get worse. I began running fever and my blood counts seemed to have a mind of their own. More and more tests were administered, all negative, which was great. In the meantime, my oncologist along with the transplant team decided to move the PET scan up by a week to July 2 in order to determine the success of the transplant and to make comparisons to clear CT scans that had been done throughout the process. To everyone's dismay, despite a good transplant, sometime around day +36 a new bout of lymphoma appeared. From what I understand, a recurrence so soon in extremely unlikely.

Working with such a great medical team has kept us on our toes and kept our spirits up as a family. Currently I am still gaining strength back from the transplant and undergoing new rounds of some cutting edge treatment, which I have just begun and seem to be tolerating well. Once this initial treatment is behind us, other options are also available.

Rob continues to be a trooper (now I know where Georgia got her nursing skills), and the girls are here, coming and going between summer activities. We are so blessed with wonderful extended family, countless friends, the amazing St. Anne's community and even people I don't know who have me in their thoughts and prayers. I am grateful to each of you beyond words.

At this time all my energy is going to regaining my strength and working my way through treatments (hopefully with grace and a good nature), so if I don't reply to you, please understand how limited my energy is, but understand I am sending love right back to you from my heart.