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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Cancer Birthday #1

Just passed the one year milestone after stem cell transplantation, and the most common question asked by friends and family is: 'How are you feeling now?'

I've told many of you this, but if you missed the sermon, the answer is: (somewhat surprising to me) normal.

Not sure how much of feeling normal is simply deciding you have been sick for a while (the cancer probably started about 2 years ago) and you desperately want to be normal, or if you really are normal.

According to blood tests, CT scans, bone marrow biopsies, and above all my Oncologist, I am medically normal.  Physicians reading this will detect the reason for the italics-all docs view their patients through a certain filter, and frankly there is a tendency to see patients in an objective, clinical, and somewhat sterile sense.  I suspect most patients view normality through a much wider lens, and a pronouncement of 'normal' from the doc may not translate quite so well in the gestalt of their entire being.

OK, enough philosophical rambling-many thanks to all for continued support and encouragement.  It makes up a significant piece of the normal pie (or cake :-).

Kindest wishes