#19 Fair Weather Friend

Wow, it’s been a month since I posted any information about my current state of affairs! That is because I feel most excellent, enjoying time with family and friends, celebrating milestones, completing some home and yard projects, and gleaning so much joy from dancing, making music and art, and taking time in nature. After my first cycle of immunotherapy, my bone marrow biopsy reports zero leukemia cells. And all my blood counts bounced back to normal. This is fantastic news — just what we are looking for. Earlier this week, I move back to Fifty-Five Fruit Street to begin a second, four week cycle of Blintubamab, to lock in these results, before I begin the conditioning process leading up to a stem cell transplant in the new year.

I would not say I am the most centered person you ever met, or the one who is always fully present and calm. That said, I may just be the best fair-weather friend to myself. When I feel good, feel whole, am asymptomatic and full of my usual energy, I am all that. An entire skin grows over the hardships, the distractions, the pain, the overwhelm, and I am fully back. In the past month, with no fanny pack to carry around, my full measure and treasure of vitality, and all kinds of events and opportunities to cherish, it’s as if leukemia has entirely faded, there seems no remnant of illness, and I am happily, back in the saddle.