A Birthday to Remember

Hello out there!!

My birthday was coming up and things were going great. 

When I had my stem cell transplant, one of the side effects was graft vs. host disease (GVH).  This GVH caused me to lose the ability to produce tears.  This really makes crying a site to see.  Everything else is the same....I get flushed, stuffy, and full of emotion...and then nothing.  No tears, no release, nothing.  There the emotion stays, stuck inside, ready to be unleashed at any moment.  To help with this no tear thing I found a place in Boston called the Boston Eye Institute.  The specialize in GVH of the eyes.  I went there and got these special contacts.  They hold liquid between the contact and my eye.  It is amazing!!  Though I still have to use eye drops a million times a day...it is better than it was. 

While we were in Boston we decided to go whale watching.  This was the most serene, calming, experience.  To watch whales just out in nature...doing what they do. Very cool!  We saw about 5 whales that day.  It is so calm on the water and all you hear are their blow holes.  I will never forget this. 

At this point in my life, most of my friends are graduating from college.  However, I get the pleasure of staying in school for another 4 years.  Missing years and semesters does not help my goal of graduating from college.  Luckily, in my program most people take longer then 4 years anyways!!

Ah, and then it was here, my 22rd birthday, I know not really a special one but I got to spend it with Dan.  We went to Busch Gardens; I had never been.  We rode every roller coaster twice and had an amazing time.  When I am with Dan the world of cancer disappears.  If only there was a way to keep him around all the time.  This is a battle that I will not talk about in the blog....sorry.

A little boring...but I also got all four wisdom teeth pulled.  It wasn't too bad. I got to get put to sleep so I like that.

Things in the summer were overall pretty great.  I didn't have to go to the hospital much.  I was able to work, go to the zoo, a wedding, see friends.  Continueing with the "normal" life just fine.  Before I knew it it was time for Camp Fantastic, volleyball season, and back to school. 

It was roughly 6 months since my last chemo cycle; and of course, time to be scanned again.  After an amazing summer, a little of a vaca from NIH, my tumors were growing.  I will still be able to return to school, and will be scanned in 2 months to see how fast they are growing.  At this point, we didn't really know what the next treatment would be; so all we could do was wait for October.