Thursday, November 13, 2008. This was the date that I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, and told that median life expectancy was five years.
It's a date that one might thing I would not let pass unnoticed. I knew that it was sometime in November, but I didn't recall the exact date. And I was going to make a blog post about it, but didn't get around to it -- been working too much lately.
At any rate, it came and went. I don't live my life as though I have Myeloma. I take pills at night, they have some side effects that I'll be glad to be rid of eventually. I get Velcade once a week -- I've grown to view these visits as respites from the frantic pace of my job. I go to Arkansas once every four months now, for a series of tests which generally bore me to tears, and at which I now fully expect to see no return of the cancer. And I wait, patiently but with growing confidence and conviction, that in two years time I will be off meds and will be told, definitively, by the doctor who sees more Myeloma than anybody in the world that it will not be coming back.
And so...I give Thanks tomorrow to the doctor who saved my life, my family and friends that make it worth saving, and everybody in the Myeloma community -- doctors, nurses, patients, caregivers and the precious followers of this blog who sustained me at my lowest and still inspire me with their own stories and their care for mine.
Warm wishes to all of you for this holiday.
Best,
Nick
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Amen!
ReplyDeleteI'll second that Amen! Two years ago today, November 24, was my hit-me-with-a-2x4 day. Thanks to Dr. BB and his gifted team, family, supportive friends and my MM buddies, like you, Nick, I can celebrate this Thanksgiving with a smile on my face. Blessings to you and all of the van Dyks from the Murrays!
ReplyDeleteWe started our treatment a week ago, two years ago in Little Rock. Thanksgiving stem cell collection and we were Thankful. Funny how things gain differing perspectives if only you allow yourself to change your point of view. And lucky for me, I got to know many more of you in the same boat! You have continued to enrich my life. Happy Thanksgiving 2010 and many, many more!
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