It’s been a few months since I’ve had the energy to write and let you know how things have been going.

It's been six months since my transplant. I’m still working my way through this stem cell 'adventure' and have gone from receiving chemotherapy at the time of my transplant to being on a targeted oral chemotherapy, and having all of my whopping 24 plus medications "dialed in", of which I’m tolerating fairly well. Instead of having to be at the hospital nearly every day (like I was all summer), my daughter and I now attend clinic regurlarly 1-2 times a week, which has been wonderful! It goes something like this: Labs are drawn; I see my medical team for results of those labs, and sometimes I need to receive an infusion of magnesium or potassium or whatever I may need that day. Just recently I needed to receive blood, but - no worries, all is well.

I have been prescribed a medication called Tacrolimus, a strong immunosuppressant (highly toxic to the body, yet very necessary for stem cell patients to take during the first 6 months to a year- at least!)  This medication caused a rare condition that- to keep it short- inflamed every blood vessel in my body, restricting my red blood cells from regenerating, ultimately 'eating up' my platelets and causing them to drop. The reason I mention this is that for the last four months, my medical team has been somewhat baffled by my consistently decreasing platelet count despite having the rest of my lab work appear steady and strong. These past two months in particular the head of my team was concerned that perhaps I was facing Graft vs. Host disease (a dangerous complication of Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplants), and he heavily questioned if my Leukemia was trying to come back. 

My medical team made some changes and decided to stop the Tacrolimus and once that happened, the inflammation in my blood vessels decreased and my platelet counts began to rise, which was great news! It's such a delicate balance for them to get all of the components of this process to work together between meds, side effects, testing my donor's cells vs my cells, and constantly monitoring any microscopic shift or change. It's fascinating, really.  I've come to know that when your platelet counts are low, you feel sluggish and tired. When the platelet counts rise, your energy is renewed and you have some “pep in your step”, and I love that feeling. It has been a stressful few months, but I am thankful that my medical team was able to discover and get to the bottom of this complication. They even shared with me at my last appointment that they believe I may now finally be turning a corner in this process. Praise be to God!

Faith and a positive attitude can go a long way toward making a cancer experience bearable. Each and every day is precious to us ... a gift from heaven. So during this time, I made a resolution to maintain a positive and healthy attitude. To have a halo of hope greeting me every morning.

Each day holds so much promise. Each day holds so much passion and I don’t want to miss one minute of God’s goodness. My cancer experience has allowed me the opportunity to reflect on my life and has given me permission to make the changes that I’ve always wanted to make no matter how small.

I want to thank you for your thoughtfulness through cards, phone calls, text messages and emails, as they continue to come in, for filling me with words of encouragement, comfort and peace. Some of you have designed cards especially for me and I want you to know that I cherish every one of them.

I’ve received hot chocolate in cards and beautiful bookmarks, Angel ornaments, and adorable stuffed animals that made me smile. I have an anonymous Angel at church who has blessed me from time to time with special gifts of love. I don’t know who you are, but with all my gratitude and love, I thank you and pray God’s continued blessings upon YOU!

The Christmas season is almost over and a New Year is about to begin. Because Jesus came, we can have peace with God, be filled with all joy, abound in hope, be justified freely, be alive toward God, have the spirit of wisdom, be under His grace, know the hope of His calling, be conformed to His image, be a child of God, be His heir, have victory and know the riches of the glory of His inheritance. Because of Jesus we have so many reasons to rejoice! 

To all of us - the patients, survivors, family, friends, employers and caregivers who are living with cancer or any other illnesses or situations causing great concern - NEVER let go of the thing that makes getting up every day worth living for … the gift of HOPE. God be with you and bless you.

My love,

Sandy