As Summer Comes to an End

Well, there's not much going on right now in regard to doctor appointments, etc. What is going on is that I had a wonderful and full summer that included a trip to Ocean City (yeah, I para-sailed), many splendid nights spent on the boat, and some good visits with my grandchildren.

I try to exercise everyday and am eating well. I have gained back some weight, but that is probably a good thing since I was looking pretty gaunt there for awhile. Currently I'm enrolled in Graduate School at Towson University and am taking an on-campus class called the Eloquence of Rhetoric. I took a very enjoyable on-line poetry class over the summer so commuting to campus takes some effort. The poetry class was a lot of fun, but the Rhetoric class on the other hand, is quite difficult. I tend to be forgetful and don't easily grasp new concepts without a lot of reading or discussing. Since of course I need something else to worry about, I wonder if some of that doesn't stem from "chemo brain"!

Although I feel pretty good most of the time, I readily admit that my pace has slowed considerably. I certainly can't do what I used to do before I got sick. So, house and yard work suffer, my cognition is impaired, and I'm certainly not the "party girl" I used to be. I still require 8 - 10 hours of sleep a night and occasionally feel nauseous. But, it beats the alternative so I don't really care. I am grateful for what I have and don't push myself to do anymore than I really want to do.

I have been doing some volunteer work at Hopkins recently. My first two sessions entailed sitting with 5 or 6 first year medical students and their preceptor and telling them about my journey with leukemia. It was very gratifying and with the one group particularly, I felt a real kinship on a very emotional level. The second part of my volunteer work involved me doing a little acting - I told my story just as I told my doctor how I was feeling back in January of 2008. Now it's not the student's job to diagnose, it's their job to learn how to take medical histories and to ask the "next" questions. They all did remarkably well considering it was only their 2nd week of medical school. They are all so bright and eager - too cute.

So, that is my update as of now. Yes, I still worry about a relapse, and yes, I still worry about the effects of Gleevec on my organs, and yes, I'm still taking it all in. I look at myself sometimes and gasp at how I've aged. Maybe it's just me being critical of me (like all women do) and don't get me wrong, in the scheme of things it doesn't matter at all, but it's amazing what cancer and chemo can do to a girl! It takes a while to absorb.