In May 2024, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare and aggressive blood cancer. A total shock since I was in good health in so many ways, a little tired and achy, but who isn’t at age 73? Kaiser jumped on it right away. To start, I was taking two kinds of chemo for about a month, with five days in the hospital at the beginning. When my oncologist said chemo for the rest of my shortened life, I was devastated. It just didn’t sit right with me. It didn’t feel like it was my time to leave everyone and everything I had in my life. So, I felt my only alternative was to see if this was my only option. I picked an oncologist from UCSF who dealt with my type of cancer and paid for a second opinion. She explained my genetic type of AML would not do well on only chemo, and I was in good enough health to have a T-cell transplant, as it was the way to rid my body of cancer. She talked my Kaiser oncologist into letting me go to UCSF. Kaiser covered it since they don’t perform transplants. So, I had the transplant, and I am still being seen by the UCSF oncologist and team. I have no cancer, which happened before I went to UCSF, but it was bound to reappear with a vengeance without the transplant.
For five months, we rented an apartment in San Francisco during the transplant and part of the recovery. My husband did the cooking, shopping, driving, and visited me daily at UCSF for the three weeks I stayed in the UCSF hospital for the transplant. He gave me amazing support through the whole process! Currently, I walk at least two miles a day (which I did most days even through treatment), I drive, and can cook, but my husband still likes doing it, so why not?
Early on, when I was first diagnosed, I made a point of telling all my friends and anyone who wanted to listen. I figured I needed all the positive, healing energy I could gather, plus a few miracle-worker friends, too. As a result, I had and still have amazing support from my friends, neighbors, and people I didn’t know that well, and from my husband’s Facebook friends whom I never met. The generosity of all who stepped forward to listen and help was truly overwhelming. It has inspired me to give back when I can, both to people I know and don’t know so well — random acts of kindness, as they say.
So, we are back in our home as of April 2025. They say it will take a total of a year to recover, beginning from my transplant birthday, November 22, 2024, when I was born again. My blood cell count is still low but going up slowly, and my muscles are weak but getting stronger. I don’t get tired much, but rest anyway. I am still on way too many meds, but they are tapering slowly, and my digestion is getting back to normal. It will be a while before I can do my screen-printing art again because I must get strong enough to lift 30-pound screens. I have an incentive because my art has been selling so well in the last 3 years. Now time is on my side again — I am blessed and lucky in so many, many ways!
Joy
acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
