Dx Day #2 Anniversary

So, I missed posting it but New Year's Day was Post 100! Yay :)...now, onto more important stuff like today's post...

Aerodynamically, the bumblebee should not be able to fly,

but the bumblebee does not know that so it goes on flying anyway.
—Mary Kay Ash

January 2nd, 2001...We had nervously celebrated Christmas and New Year's and everything in between. I knew something was up but not what specifically. The months before had brought much leg and hip pain and lots of trials and errors with pain meds. It had also scared my doctors enough to take stem cells to store in case I'd ever need a bone marrow transplant...I think my doctors probably knew the unfortunate news over the holidays but decided to tell us afterwards. I am happy that they let us have a few more days of 'innocence' over the holidays.

So on this day, 2001, I think it was probably my mom that answered the phone. I was 17 at this point and it had been almost exactly 1 year since I had ended a full year of chemotherapy with some radiation after that emergency surgery. We got the news that within the stem cells taken as a precaution, cancer had roared its awful head. The plan was: Chemotherapy beginning on January 15th (my mother's birthday) for a few months and put me into remission, then take more healthy stem cells from me and go through an intense stem cell transplant (like a bone marrow transplant). We didn't realize then until years later that my chance for survival was about 10%. This was just the beginning of probably the worst year of my life, as far as how I felt health wise and what I had to go through.

Cheers to making it through that year and the ones following!

Today, I am grateful for: life, optimism, hope, love, friends, family, God and everything good (and what one learns from the not so good).

Love,
Rachel