Happy Anniversary?

One year ago today this was my view:

It was the first day of chemo and radiation treatments. Now it amazes me how little I understood about what my life was about to turn into. I was planning on working through the majority of my treatment, assuming that near the end I might have to take a little extra time off. My parents were with me to help take care of Baby Chang but I thought it was a little unnecessary. HA! I couldn't have been more wrong.

The thing I held onto the most was that NPC was curable and the doctors I was working with had a high success rate with the treatments I was about to endure. Now with the physical and emotional scars I think only a survivor can understand I know I would follow these men and their advice again in a heartbeat (feeding tube scars and all).

Recovery has been almost as hard as the treatment itself, which I was told over and over would be the case. It seems monthly something new comes up that a year ago I would have been strong enough to fight off. There are physical side effects that should go away but they should have gone away sooner. Every three months I have a round of doctor appointments that makes me want to weep even when the news is good.

It has been a hell of a year and looking back it's hard to believe it really happened (not so unlike childbirth). I'm looking forward to a new year with new healthy experiences. Perhaps someday this will be an anniversary I will forget, or maybe I will always spend a little time on December 28th reflecting on how far I've come since 2009.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

A year ago, oh hell a couple of weeks ago this was not a Christmas Carol I was singing. In fact I wanted to ban all Carols, all joy and all thanks.

Well, as of today that has all changed. Tuesday morning I went in for a CT Scan to see how things were going with the cancer. Yesterday I saw my ENT and he said everything was looking great. Today I saw my Oncologist and he confirmed it! Forgive me if I need more than one opinion to celebrate.

As of now everything looks normal and healthy. I'm still in full remission.

It's amazing to think that almost exactly a year ago I was sitting in doctor's offices getting the news that I had cancer. As they spouted facts, figures and treatment plans I sat in disbelief. Adamant that I wouldn't start my treatments before Christmas because I didn't want to be sick on Baby Chang's first Christmas.

Fast forward a year. Mom and Dad Chang are here in Texas again this time because of pneumonia. Dad Chang has accompanied me to each appointment to hear the good news just as he was with me last year to hear the bad.

So, in some crazy way I can be thankful for the pneumonia and that the people who sat by me through the bad a year ago get to be by me to hear the good today.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Playing Catch Up

I seem to have started dozens of blogs since the last time I wrote and for some reason haven't finished any of them. Perhaps it was because I had gotten to the point that I wasn't writing about my health or I just couldn't finish them because I'd been interrupted by work or Baby Chang. Who knows...

So I'll start by catching you up on life in the Chang household. We have been blessed to have Prairie Dad home most of the last four months. Unfortunately (and fortunately because it means employment) that streak may be coming to an end soon. Once the ink is dry I'll let you know what projects are in the works.

Baby Chang just went in for her 18 month check-up and couldn't be healthier. She is tipping the scales at 27 lbs 4 oz and she is a towering 35 inches tall. Yes, she is almost three feet tall, her arms however stretch to infinity and beyond, nothing is out of reach these days.

All of us took a trip a couple weeks ago to surprise Grandma and Grandpa Chang. Sadly it was because Grandpa was having surgery but that has all worked out in the best of all possible ways. Nothing could quite describe the look on Grandma Chang's face when we showed up on her doorstep. The fact that my sister kept it a secret may have been the biggest surprise of all.

As for me I got to spend another holiday in the hospital. I spent the week of Thanksgiving being poked and prodded. About five weeks ago I was diagnosed with pneumonia. After two courses of oral antibiotics I still wasn't getting better. My general doctor sent me to see a Pulmonary Disease specialist who ordered a CT scan. Before the results were in I was in so much pain they sent me to the ER. After a biopsy of the unidentified mass in my lung and draining the fluid outside my lung I was making a turn for the better. It turns out it is a strain of strep that has built a home in my right lung. On Monday I was able to go home but I have a PICC line in my left arm and give myself daily IV antibiotics. I'm happy to report I'm feeling much better. I have about a week left before the next x-ray and hopefully the removal of the PICC.

I'll admit laying in a hospital bed over Thanksgiving was emotionally one of the hardest moments of the last year. Finding things to be thankful for was virtually impossible. Today that is a little easier but I think I'll save that for a later post.