RE: My Two Year CML Diagnosis Anniversary

[Guest guest]

Hi - congratulations from another celebrating her just on 2 year

diagnosis!

I admire any young mums being able to survive Glivec and living a " normal "

life with their families and coping with young children. You are soooo very

lucky to have the support of a wonderful husband and I'm sure you will see

your boys grow up. The best thing we have is that CML has been relegated to

a truly chronic disease as we can see and be given so much hope from all

the CML warriors on this list.

From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of

Sent: Thursday, 16 July 2009 12:46 PM

Subject: [ ] My Two Year CML Diagnosis Anniversary

Dear Friends,

As I was sitting here this evening checking my E-Mail, I realized that today

is July 17th. I arrived a short while ago from my husband's Grandmother's

house since I bought the kids there to spend the day with her and, honestly,

today's date just dawned on me. Two years ago today I received the news that

I had CML. I can only compare this moment to being hit on the side of the

head with a sledgehammer because I never expected to hear such horrible news

at the age of 30. All I could think about, at that moment, was figuring out

how to survive long enough to raise my boys, who were then ages 1 and 4.

They were all that I could think about at that moment and are all that I

think about every morning when I wake up and every night when I go to sleep.

This has not been an easy journey in many respects. I am no longer the

person that I was physically two years ago. Gleevec has been a miraculous

drug for me but not without taking its pound of flesh in the form of side

effects. I have constant pain in my legs in the form of joint pain and

muscle cramps. Additionally, edema has changed my once normal ankles to

party balloon animals. Despite, or rather in spite, of all of this, I am

alive today to write this message.

This journey, however, has also magnified the joys and blessings in my life.

My children are now 3 and 6 and I pray every day that the medicine will keep

working for me so that I may see them grow into men. I now drink in every

experience and have a much greater appreciation for the precious moments

that I am blessed to witness on a daily basis. Along the way, I have lost

people in my life who I thought were in my corner and gained others whom I

never would have expected to step up to the plate. The fear is always there

but it sits in the backseat most of the time instead of holding me by the

hand and leading me along.

My husband has been my biggest hero through all of this. He reminds me every

single day how beautiful I am and how much I am loved even if I don't feel

as beautiful most of the time as I used to. Even in those moments when I

feel like I'm defective because of the disease and its limitations he has a

way of knocking some sense into me in a gentle and loving way. Our

caregivers deserve so much respect, admiration, and recognition for all that

they do for us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I also want to say that I couldn't have made it this far without some of

you. I can still recall, during those dark, early moments of diagnosis how

some of you like Lottie, Barb, Zavie, , etc. reached out to me in my

despair and selflessly smothered me in hope and shared their journeys with

me. It is amazing how this horrible disease manages to unite people who

don't know each other to establish an instant bond due to a quiet

understanding of what we each have to endure. Thank you all for your

support, knowledge, understanding, and caring ways. It has meant a lot to me

over these last two years and fueled my desire to fight and to live.

I salute all of you and here is to a cure as soon as possible. Hopefully, we

will all be here to share many anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, and other

joyous events for many decades to come. May you all continue to thrive on

medication as we await this cure and onward to PCRU (or at least a 3 log

reduction) for everyone.

Sincerely,

NYC

[Guest guest]

A beautiful message. Thank you and congratulations as well, and many continued

blessings for you and your family.

From: icynena@...

Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:46:09 +0000

Subject: [ ] My Two Year CML Diagnosis Anniversary

Dear Friends,

As I was sitting here this evening checking my E-Mail, I realized that today

is July 17th. I arrived a short while ago from my husband's Grandmother's house

since I bought the kids there to spend the day with her and, honestly, today's

date just dawned on me. Two years ago today I received the news that I had CML.

I can only compare this moment to being hit on the side of the head with a

sledgehammer because I never expected to hear such horrible news at the age of

30. All I could think about, at that moment, was figuring out how to survive

long enough to raise my boys, who were then ages 1 and 4. They were all that I

could think about at that moment and are all that I think about every morning

when I wake up and every night when I go to sleep.

This has not been an easy journey in many respects. I am no longer the

person that I was physically two years ago. Gleevec has been a miraculous drug

for me but not without taking its pound of flesh in the form of side effects. I

have constant pain in my legs in the form of joint pain and muscle cramps.

Additionally, edema has changed my once normal ankles to party balloon animals.

Despite, or rather in spite, of all of this, I am alive today to write this

message.

This journey, however, has also magnified the joys and blessings in my life.

My children are now 3 and 6 and I pray every day that the medicine will keep

working for me so that I may see them grow into men. I now drink in every

experience and have a much greater appreciation for the precious moments that I

am blessed to witness on a daily basis. Along the way, I have lost people in my

life who I thought were in my corner and gained others whom I never would have

expected to step up to the plate. The fear is always there but it sits in the

backseat most of the time instead of holding me by the hand and leading me

along.

My husband has been my biggest hero through all of this. He reminds me

every single day how beautiful I am and how much I am loved even if I don't feel

as beautiful most of the time as I used to. Even in those moments when I feel

like I'm defective because of the disease and its limitations he has a way of

knocking some sense into me in a gentle and loving way. Our caregivers deserve

so much respect, admiration, and recognition for all that they do for us

physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I also want to say that I couldn't have made it this far without some of

you. I can still recall, during those dark, early moments of diagnosis how some

of you like Lottie, Barb, Zavie, , etc. reached out to me in my despair and

selflessly smothered me in hope and shared their journeys with me. It is

amazing how this horrible disease manages to unite people who don't know each

other to establish an instant bond due to a quiet understanding of what we each

have to endure. Thank you all for your support, knowledge, understanding, and

caring ways. It has meant a lot to me over these last two years and fueled my

desire to fight and to live.

I salute all of you and here is to a cure as soon as possible. Hopefully,

we will all be here to share many anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, and other

joyous events for many decades to come. May you all continue to thrive on

medication as we await this cure and onward to PCRU (or at least a 3 log

reduction) for everyone.

Sincerely,

NYC

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