Good News

Monday went really well! Long day, but that was somewhat expected - I mean, how timely can doctors/hospitals possibly be? It was all pretty straight forward, vitals, blood drawn, met with my doctor, got some chemo - you know, pretty standard day for a college senior... HA... not quite. Meeting with my doctor went really well though, everything is going according to plan and good news - no cancer cells! My blood counts are up, in fact they've kind of over shot themselves, but they should settle down and best news of all, even though my white blood cells are above normal, they're all healthy cells, no cancer! I'm able to do more normal stuff now too - in fact everything! I can wear my contacts again, go to the movies, don't have to wear a mask in public... funny how excited I am about doing things I never thought I'd be so excited about. The other really good news is that my chemotherapy schedule is going to work perfectly around graduation! Right now I have to go back to Dana Farber on Monday for my last day of this induction phase which means I get another spinal tap and bone marrow biopsy (yessssiii) but the results from those are going to determine whether or not I'm officially in remission so it'll be a big day. Then I won't have to go back to Dana Farber until the following Monday, although that's actually for a big dose of chemo so I'm going to have to check into the hospital for a couple of days, but hey after being in the hospital for three and a half weeks, a couple of days is nothing! That weekend though before I have to go back to the hospital is Commencement Weekend at Georgetown so I'm really excited that I'll be able to go and I should be feeling pretty good since my last chemo dose will have been a couple days before so I should be well recovered.

I've got a lot to do in terms of just packing up all my stuff.... So weird to think I haven't been there for so long. In fact actually, today is the one month marker of my diagnosis! A month ago today I found out I have leukemia. Crazy to think it's already been month, at the same time though, it's only a month. My treatment is two years long, at least. Even though I guess in the big picture it's not that long, it's weird to think how much this whole ordeal is changing my life, key word being changing, present tense. Everyday is a new day with new feelings whether they're good or bad, emotional and physical. And unfortunately it's probably only going to get worse in terms of the general fatigue, etc. Last night though I went out to dinner with Matthew which was fantastic. It felt so good to be out driving, listening to the radio, windows down - the weather right now is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We took the volvo and were even driving top down! It was gorgeous. It's been so nice getting back to normal things - I've found one of the most noticeable changes about having leukemia is that it's made me appreciate the most mundane things: walking up the stairs, going outside, breathing fresh air. So going out to dinner was really fantastic for me, and Matthew was desperate for a break from school so it was a great night. It's funny though going out because I almost feel like I'm walking around with a big secret, I feel incognito. Everyone around me thinks nothing of me, but I'm thinking, I've just been diagnosed with leukemia! It's something that's become such a big part of my life, and yet if I want to I can totally hide it. It's a weird feeling. Kinda cool though too....