Today was a long day, I just finished up at 9pm with the MRI’s, facetimed the kids and I’m ready to call it a night. I am trying to drink a bunch of water to wash the dye from the tests out of my system just in time for the chemo tomorrow. I think a … More Day One.Done.

Today I have some good news!! After 18 months of fighting with Aetna literally and figuratively, we finally prevailed. Well… technically we had to change insurance companies during open enrollment in hopes a new company would actually act ethically, but they did. After making a change to United, I was fully approved in 48 hours … More Finally!

OK, this thing is getting VERY close now. I’m pretty much ready. I picked up the prescriptions I need to bring with me and the pharmacy sent the Neupogen shots. I’m supposed to carry those on the plane with me and they need to stay at a refrigerated temperature. I guess I will just get … More A couple more days…

What a busy Christmas week! It was fun putting all this aside and just enjoying time with family and friends. The girls are occupied this morning playing with their new things and anxiously awaiting their cousins to come visit tomorrow. I can’t believe 2016 is ending and 2017 will be bringing me a brand new … More Next Weekend!

So I got word from Northwestern today that I will be starting January 9! We will probably head to Chicago January 8th to make sure we get there in time for the first blood draw. It looks like I will be there for about 2 1/2 weeks.  I will receive the first round of chemo … More I have my dates!

What can possibly taint the greatest place on earth?….AETNA. While I’m being an extremely responsible parent and taking my kids out of school to enrich their minds with churros and all things Disney, Aetna has decided to be a big giant bully AGAIN. I have been denied coverage for the stem cell transplant due to not … More Insurance…Denied

I am still waiting on my test results to see if I can begin earlier. I should get them back Monday or Tuesday. If I am still negative for the JC virus my risk for PML is low enough that the doctors are willing to do the transplant without waiting the full 6 months. This … More Still waiting

So this has been a pretty tough year or so. I lost my grandparents and my dad,got this diagnosis, meds didn’t work….but I’ve realized something. Even in the worst storm, tiny bits of sunshine peak through. And that bit of sunshine is sometimes all you need to get through. I have always moved around a … More A big giant thank you!

We are back home in California after a few days of pre-testing. I’m a little tired but other that that everything went well. Also thank you to my mom for taking such good care of the kiddos while we were away! They took a lot of blood so it seems they are being very thorough … More Pre-Testing

I learned a big lesson on this one. Kids are smarter and more observant than we sometimes realize. When I was first diagnosed my immediate reaction was to protect the kids by telling them as little as possible. My dad had just died and I thought that was enough for them to handle at that … More Telling the Kids