Hello! It's been quite a while since I've blogged and I haven't been visiting this site much in recent months. It has partly to do with my last entry about The "Other Side". I have found others here and elsewhere in the "cancer world", who find themselves having achieved a milestone of significant proportions i.e., survival, and they feel a need to "move on". Early on in this journey, I can't say I understood it much, but I certainly do now and see it as a natural evolution.
In the Myeloma community someone mentioned on an email listserv I belong, that we have trouble finding the survivors of Myeloma because they are living their lives!!!! No kidding! As well they should! They have been through hell and managed to come back from the brink and I can't possibly begrudge their desire to get on with it. Dave and I now find ourselves in this enviable position of moving our wagon over onto the survival path and it feels great. The downside is of course, that I miss all of you who kept me sane and moving forward day in and day out when things seemed bleak or just too hard.
Ok, so enough of my soap box.
We are in Little Rock, Arkansas again for our 3 month check up. They want to follow up on the disease but more importantly, they just want to see how Dave is doing since he has been on his "maintenance therapy" back in California where we live. We expect no surprises or difficulties and we completed all the diagnostics today. A long day. We ran into one myeloma couple we met who live in Little Rock and they looked GREAT! He had TWO stem cell transplants way back when and then his myeloma was back with a vengeance. He's an older gentlemen, so it looked like it was getting the better of him the last time I saw him. His spirits were low and he was weak and frail. You can imagine how elated I was to seem him moving at a good clip down the hallway with his wife, no cane, no walker, no wheelchair, bopping along with a smile on his face when he saw me! I was THRILLED! He had a THIRD SCT and is now doing fantastic! We lose many new friends to this horrible disease, but for those who manage to come out the other side, there is a camaraderie unlike any other, as I know that you all are quite familiar with!
So when I get back to California after this check up, I have been preparing my family and friends that I will be ending my "journaling" on Dave's Caring Bridge site. Its time for us to move on to the "living" and continue to journal there sort of holds this cancer in our faces front and center. They all can call me, email, or find me on Facebook to check in and see how we are living our lives. Cancer is now a significant EVENT in our lives, but it is not defining us or consuming us as it as for the last 18 months or so.
Oh, some other interesting news... UAMS (the facility in Little Rock where we have been treated) has asked me to be interviewed for a Caregiver's DVD they are producing. Very cool. I'm going for my taping tomorrow at 10 am. My daughter, Montana, a Communications Major in College has sent me tips. "Mom, don't move your head around a lot, it doesn't look good on film, a few hand gestures are OK, but don't over do it. Oh and Mom, don't over dress and bundle up like you do, you'll look mannish!" Don't you love it when your kids grow up and start teaching you? Too funny. I'll let you all know how it turns out. They have already incorporated my "list" of things to bring when you come to Little Rock, driving or flying for their new patients. It feels good to give back in some small way.
You all keep on, keeping on and I'll check in from time to time. Most of you know where to find me and I have no restrictions on my profile so you can always shoot me an email from here.
Love,
Lori
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain!"
