Tag: multiple-myeloma-anemia

32 – No Stone Goes Unturned

🌀Mood: Thorough. Evaluated. Protected. Prepared. Strengthened. Intentional. If you think a stem cell transplant is just about cancer, you would be wrong. Before they give you high-dose chemotherapy, they test everything. Heart.Lungs.Kidneys.Liver.Infectious disease panels.Chest X-rays.EKGs.Pulmonary function tests.Dental clearance.Vein checks.And yes — even a full gynecology exam. No stone goes unturned. And honestly? That’s comforting. The Body Audit This week wasn’t just about my PET scan … Continue reading 32 – No Stone Goes Unturned

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31 – A Miracle, and the Green Light

🌀Mood: Miraculous. Positioned. Grateful. Strategic. Steady This week, I received words I will never forget. “No active myelomatous disease.” On my PET scan — the imaging that detects metabolically active cancer cells — nothing lit up. No new lesions.No active bone marrow infiltration.No tumors outside the bone. In medical language, this is called a Complete Metabolic Response (CMR). In regular human language? It means the … Continue reading 31 – A Miracle, and the Green Light

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27 – Half Way There, Not Quite Yet

🌀Mood: disoriented, self-advocating, realigning, hopeful I was still sitting in the infusion chair. Still trying to absorb what my oncologist had just told me — that I hadn’t actually graduated, that I was only halfway to zero, that everything I thought was happening next was now on pause. And then the phone rang. It was the transplant scheduling department at Fred Hutch.They were calling to … Continue reading 27 – Half Way There, Not Quite Yet

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26 – If I Want to Live…

🌀Mood: Sober. Grounded. Clear-eyed. Emotionally heavy. When my husband and I walked into the transplant consultation at Fred Hutch, we still thought this might be a choice. We’d been told that freezing my stem cells and delaying the transplant was a possible path — maybe I’d stay on the treatment I was already responding so well to, and revisit the transplant later. It wasn’t ideal, … Continue reading 26 – If I Want to Live…

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25 – Thankful: A Pause Before the Next Chapter

🌀 Mood: Grateful, quiet, grounded There’s a lot swirling right now. My numbers are improving.I’m moving from weekly chemo to every-other-week.I’m meeting with the transplant team at Fred Hutch.And I know there are hard days ahead. But before I step into whatever’s next, I want to pause.To name what I’m thankful for. Thankful for Healing, Even When It’s Slow I started this journey with advanced, … Continue reading 25 – Thankful: A Pause Before the Next Chapter

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24 – Chemo #14 – Graduation Day

🌀 Mood: Bittersweet, reflective, steady, vulnerable My oncologist looked at me with a big smile and said, “You’re graduating.” Graduating? It took a moment to sink in. After next week, I’ll no longer be coming in for weekly treatments. My M-protein level is now at 0.08—a number I’ve been working toward for months. With that, I move to every other week instead of every week. … Continue reading 24 – Chemo #14 – Graduation Day

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23 – The Consultation That Changed Everything (Part 2)

🌀Mood: Absorbing, Accepting, Trusting “There are some high-risk features in your case.” That’s what the doctor said first. She didn’t launch into the details. Just those words.And in that pause — before I even knew what they meant — I could feel the floor shifting underneath me. She went on to explain that based on my bone-marrow biopsy and chromosome analysis, my myeloma was not … Continue reading 23 – The Consultation That Changed Everything (Part 2)

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22 – The Consultation That Changed Everything (Part 1)

🌀 Mood: Anticipation, Vulnerability, Gravity, Turning Point I was incredibly anxious for a few days before the consultation at Fred Hutch. I didn’t exactly know what to expect, but I knew it was going to be serious. And somehow, that made my condition feel more real — like it had moved from the world of bloodwork and scans into something undeniable. For those of you … Continue reading 22 – The Consultation That Changed Everything (Part 1)

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21 – Back to the Neurosurgeon

🌀 Mood: Anxiety, Relief, Uncertainty, Frustration Walking into the neurosurgeon’s office again felt… weird.Familiar, but not in a comforting way. I thought I was done with this part.We had already done the kyphoplasty on my T8 — the vertebra that had collapsed. It was supposed to be fixed. Handled. Resolved. But here I was again, nervous and uneasy. The MRI had shown a burst fracture … Continue reading 21 – Back to the Neurosurgeon

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