Lymphoma-sodes: And the Beat Goes On

09/05/2010

Once again, time has gotten the best of me. I feel like Dorothy yet again; living in a whirlwind, watching things pass me by and all I'm doing is spinning in circles at a high speed. So to the meat and potatoes we will quickly move forward to...

I last left you knowing that my stem cell transplant had failed and thanks to a lack of bedside manner I was shopping around for a new hospital and doctor to call home. After three failed visits, it was the fourth and final to Dr. Armitage at the University of Nebraska Medical Center that my hope, faith, and determination was restored. With his guidance I am now seeing a new doctor, but still at the Mayo Clinic. Words do not even remotely describe the wonderfulness that is Dr. Habermann. I've learned that I can live with the Big C and better I can move forward. So where've I been moving you ask? LOTS of places.

After finding my new doc, I decided to enroll in a clinical trial for a drug called Everolimus. I take two little pills each morning, smaller then the nail bed on my pinkie finger. My first round I took for sixty days, or two cycles with scans in July to see if it was working. Sure enough, my little pills are doing the trick! Of the five (you got it FIVE) spots they have been watching, two had completely resolved themselves. Finite. Done. Gone. Hasta mañana banana. Great news, right? What's even better is the three remaining spots showed signs of (excuse the Seinfeld reference) shrinkage! So the good news is they're working. I pray every day that the Lord continues to intercede on my behalf and continue to keep these drugs working. They show great promise and I hope it's a promise I get to have fulfilled.

So now what? Life is a gift and I am grateful for every day. I have such a different perspective then I did yesterday and the day before that (and the day before that). I still struggle with the anxiety of going in for scans because for me I know that this, the daily life that is around me that I realize exactly how much I love so dearly, can be taken away from me at any moment. But alas, life moves forward. I have enrolled in my graduate program, a one year journey that will make me a teacher with a Master's level degree. What can I say? I'm in love with it. I'm in my element and am exactly where I am suppose to be; learning how to spread my cancerous joy onto the youth of America! Like I stated, the program is only a year so to say it is intense is an understatement, but each day I go there I experience something that makes me say, "THIS is what it's all about."

So remember, life is too short to not do what you love. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. Until next time....

Much Love,
Kristin

P.S. Yes that's the infamous Gus you see in the pic this time. It is his impersonation of Goose from Top Gun.