Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, wow, wow!  Thanksgiving is already here!  It's been a fast year, a year full of challenges and blessings.  As I sit here, the night before Thanksgiving, I can't help but think about the days and the weeks and the months that have passed.

I think back to the Ides of March - March 15th.  I remember posting on my Facebook page the quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar:  "Beware the Ides of March."  I was an English major in college and always found humor in quoting Shakespeare on March 15th.  My kids would always get a text from me - Beware the Ides of March!  Strange, I know :-)  Anyway....in the play, Caesar had been warned that the Ides of March would be a fateful day for him and indeed it was - he was murdered by his closest friend and ally.

And as it turns out, the Ides of March, 2011, was a fateful day for me.

On the morning of March 15th, I dragged myself to a doctor's appointment.  In the previous weeks, I had been to the gym and could only walk on the treadmill.  I didn't have the energy to run.  I thought I was really out of shape.  And I found myself sleeping very soundly at night, which was (and still is) unusual for me.  I thought the craziness of work was catching up with me.  Even when I was sleeping 10 hours a night and then napping 3 hours in the afternoon I thought it was just exhaustion from work.  But when I realized that I was out of breath walking up the stairs in my house, I knew I needed a check-up, so off to the doctor's I went.

On the evening of March 15th, the doctor called and told me I was severely anemic and my white blood cells were extremely low.  I was told to go immediately to the emergency room, where the staff was waiting to give me a transfusion...or two.  And then I was admitted to the hospital.

The Ides of March certainly kicked me in the butt!  Now how humorous is that???  I have to admit that I do find it a bit ironic.

In the 8 months since, I've had 11 transfusions, 2 bone marrow biopsies, 2 episodes of neutropenia requiring hospitalization, one massive infection, a picc line, a port, a Hickman line, 10 week of induction chemo, 2 rounds of the white blood cell builder called neupogen, a 1 day dance with Cytoxan chemo, 2 days of stem cell collection, 2 days of the extremely nasty Melphalan chemo, an autologous stem cell transplant, about 5 weeks of memory loss during and after the stem cell transplant....and let's not forget hair loss.

Let's also not forget, in the words of my primary care physician, 'a phenomenal recovery,' a continual return of energy, the good 15 lb weight loss (yes!!!), the return to cooking and walking and working and life....and my hair is starting to grow!  All in 3 months - 92 days to be exact - post-transplant.  Wow, wow, wow!!

And so on this Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the constant and abundant love and support of my family - they never let me lose hope.  I am grateful for the friendships that have uplifted me so often.  I am grateful for the prayers from people near and afar.  I am grateful for the amazing doctors and nurses who provided me with outstanding care.  And I am grateful for the lessons I've learned since the Ides of March.

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!  And let me leave you with my wish for you in this video from my favorite Christmas movie, The Muppet Christmas Carol.  (yeah, I'm still a kid at heart!)