Where Has The Summer Gone?

September is Leukemia Lymphoma and Myeloma Awareness Month!

It's been quite a while since I've posted.  As you might expect, Ray and I have had a busy summer.  We got to spend quite a bit of time on our boat and also spent a couple of weeks in Ocean City.  It was great.  Now it's September and I am back in graduate school and volunteering at the Pediatric Oncology Unit at Johns Hopkins one morning a week.  My daugher, Stephanie is gearing up and has begun her training for the Baltimore Half Marathon that will take place on October 15th.  She is running in my honor.  She does this through Team-In-Training which is sponsored by the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.  It is such a worthy cause.  The disesae that I had was once inevitably fatal.  Because of events like this, the LLS funds research in 124 labs and universities all over the world.  Much of the research done there has not only made blood cancers a cureable disease, but has also made great in-roads into finding cures and treatments for other types of cancers.

My next oncology appointment is October 27th.  I am hoping that I won't have to get a bone marrow biopsy this visit, but I know that another one will be scheduled before Christmas.  As much as I hate getting them, I always feel relieved when I get the results that say, "still 100% donor."  That's the thing with cancer - once you've had it you worry that you'll get it again.  I don't think there is a day that goes by that I don't think about it.  Most time I think, "God, I am so grateful," and then other times I think, "could that ache be sometime more than just an ache."  Alas, life goes on.  Happy Fall!