Cancer Picked The Wrong Diva!

DEFY * FIGHT * WIN

A week ago today I heard the ever-so-sweet words I've been waiting so long to hear - cancer free & remission!  There were days when I wondered if I would ever hear these words, but after 13 months of various forms of chemotherapy, an autologous stem cell transplant, and 20 rounds of radiation, I guess I can say that all the "hard work" has finally paid off. 

Speaking of stem cell transplants, today marks day +110 since my stem cell transplant.  If you're not sure what I mean by day +110, it means that I'm 110 days past the actual transplant itself.  Day 0 is the day your actual transplant takes place, and every day after is day +1, day +2, etc. etc.  In no way does it feel like it was that long ago, but as the leaves continue falling from the trees, and the temps dip into the 30's, I guess there is no denying it really has been that long.  There are no more daily visits to the U for blood work, platelets, blood transfusions, or all of the above, and no more mask that practically engulfed my face.  I'm back to cleaning my own house again, and able to be amongst the masses in grocery stores, malls, and restaurants without thinking twice.  I guess this is what some would call getting back to normalcy.

You don't realize how much you take for granted in your day-to-day life until it's taken away from you, even if only for a short while.  After my transplant, I was told I needed to stay indoors as much as possible, or if I went outside, the mask was required.  After the last hefty dose of chemo I lost ALL my hair including my eye lashes, eye brows and nose hairs.  Unfortunately I missed out on most of my summer due to these restrictions, but going outside just wasn't worth it.  It was so hot and humid most of the time anyways, and going out there with a mask on my face that added another few degrees to the mix just wasn't happening!  Also, being that I lacked nose hairs and eye lashes, any and all particles floating around in the air tried to make their way either in my eye or up my nose!  Yuck!

Thankfully once the chemo works its way out of the body it doesn't take long at all before new hair starts to come in.  My eye lashes are longer than ever, and the hair on top of my head is also coming in nicely.  I keep telling people that once my hair is long enough to actually look like I meant to style it that way I will forgo the wigs.  I'm hoping by December I'll be good to go!  As much as these wigs have been a security blanket to me in a sense, I'm ready to put those in the past along with this cancer nonsense that so many of us have to deal with at some point in our lifetime.

I'm not sure how much blogging I will be doing in the near future as I don't have much coming up in terms of appointments or scans.  I do have a follow-up on Monday with both my radiation doctor as well as Dr. Londer that should be pretty uneventful otherwise my next PET scan isn't until January!  Oh what ever will I do with all this free time on my hands now that I don't have daily/weekly appointments?  I think living a CANCER FREE life sounds like a good plan, don't you?? =)