Notes From Supergirl

My Diary from the Trenches

8 Months Post Transplant

August12

I have been so eager to blog for the last few days and finally took a moment to try to escape the screaming children and do so. The summer has been fun, but as with most moms home with the kids, I am starting to get eager for them to go back to school. Camp is over which leaves long days for them to fight with each other and complain about not being entertained enough. I do love them dearly, but a few hours of quiet will be a welcome treat. Can you tell they are screaming right now?!?!

In any case, I have a lot of great things to report. First and foremost, I have completely finished with one of my immune suppression drugs and begun tapering down the second one. My blood counts were excellent last week – all NORMAL – and one of my t-cell counts is just shy of a level they consider normal for transplant patients. It isn’t exactly “normal” but it is high enough that I am out of a high-risk zone and will no longer have to take one of my antibiotics. The other T and B cell numbers are following closely behind and working their way up. As I continue to taper down the drugs, these counts will continue to come up. And thus far there have been no signs of GVHD. My skin has improved quite significantly as well. It’s not so much a visual change, but I have had very intense itchiness for the last few months and that has subsided which is an enormous relief.

I have also been training hard for this year’s Iron Girl race which is on Sunday. I am so excited to have the opportunity to run it again on a relay team with my nurse Roseann. And for the cherry on top, I just found out that I won the Athleta “Power to the She” award for the Columbia race. Athleta sponsors Iron Girl and they select a woman for each city’s race who inspires others. I had submitted my story past the deadline on a whim and thought nothing of it. There are some phenomenal stories of the women from other cities who have won this award. Well I got word yesterday that they selected me! I was completely stunned and honored. I will receive the award at the race and my story will be featured on their blog next week (I believe). I’ll post a link when it is live. I’m really over-joyed about it all and having the opportunity to share my story in a national forum. I hope that it might inspire some other woman going through a similar experience to keep fighting. I know that so many of the stories I have read have done that for me.

Another really awesome thing that I got to do recently was a radio show for the Ulman Fund promoting the Half Full Triathlon that I participate in in October. I went on with the race director and another survivor to talk about what the race means to us and why others should want to support this great cause. The show aired on a couple of local stations over last weekend and will air again in September. I happen to be out of town last weekend so I missed it :( I’m going to try to get a digital copy or just hold out for the next time it airs. It was a very fun experience and an honor to be asked by Ulman to talk about the race.

I’ve also been busy with work and looking forward to a lot of fun things that are coming up in the next few weeks and months. I’m feeling really energized, strong and empowered. It’s a good feeling.

Before I go I just wanted to share something I’ve been doing that has really made a difference in my life lately. I got the idea from a book and it’s changed the way I see things. The book was about someone going through an incredibly difficult time in life and not being able to see to the other side of it. Someone pointed out that there are miracles that happen every single day, all the time, and we just don’t open our eyes to see them. The idea is to find those miracles and celebrate them. In the beginning you might just see one or two things, but as the days go on, you start to see so many things that you might have missed before. Yes, going through cancer for two years makes everyday feel like a miracle to begin with. But there are days it’s easy to forget that and get wrapped up in stress and petty things. I realize this little “trick” sounds cheesy, but trust me, it works. Try it for a few days and you’ll get over a slump much faster than usual.

2 Comments to

“8 Months Post Transplant”

  1. Avatar August 13th, 2012 at 10:09 am amy Says:

    You continue to amaze and inspire me, Supergirl.


  2. Avatar August 17th, 2012 at 10:12 pm Heather Says:

    I kind of miss the gory details section. Give something. Anything. Throw up after Iron Girl? Come on! (By the way, best wishes Sunday!)

    Love,
    Heather