cancersmancer: Let Them (and Me) Eat Cake

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Let Them (and Me) Eat Cake

...and that's exactly what I'm going to do tonight for my birthday.

I am demanding that we go to the Cheesecake Factory so I can eat cake for dinner (after we spend the afternoon at the pool). Sure beats last year when we had two feet of snow in Vancouver and I had to go for a PET scan.

Last night we went to a Christmas light display and made S'mores in the desert around a big bonfire...fun!

Now it's time to turn up the speakers and listen to one of my favorite songs ("The Great Defector" that's playing right now). I love the lyrics in this song, especially the line I love the colour of it all. I certainly do.

Happy birthday to me and happy holidays to you!

About Me

Name: Kirsten (not Kristen)

Location: Vancouver, Canada

I am a 32-year-old (now 36) female with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer affecting the lymphatic system. I was diagnosed in April of 2006 after an x-ray revealed a 10cm mass in my mediastinum (the cavity between the lungs and the chest). Subsequently, I've had five months of chemotherapy, but the disease has proved to be refractory, meaning it is "restless" and not responding fast enough. The next course of treatment is a stem cell transplant, the likes of which I will try to chronicle here for family, friends, and, well, voyeurs if you don't fit into one of those two catagories... In my "normal" life, I am a writer, animal lover, pseudo runner and paperphile (don't ask...) In general, an aficionado of little, but connoisseur of much... UPDATE - March 2008...After a stem cell transplant, 20 rounds of radiation, 10 more months of chemo and 5 more rounds of radiation, I am now doing clinical trials. UPDATE - November 2008...One trial down (MGCD0103). UPDATE - May 2009...SGN-35 trial (12 cycles). UPDATE - Feb 2010...Bendamustine (6 cycles). UPDATE - Oct 2010...finished Bendamustine and hoping for continued stable disease. Jesus, who's writing this stuff, anyway?