I'm Two Years Old

Today is a very special day to me. On this date, two years ago, I had a bone marrow transplant at City of Hope in Duarte, CA. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I was scared and had no idea what to expect. I remember just lying in bed, while the stem cells were being infused through my PICC line. I remember just praying to God the entire time. I remember how I just teared up and thought of Raul, Danica, my family and friends. Here I am two years later... still can't believe that it has been two years. I recently signed a consent to release personal information and I pray that my donor will sign in to, so we can contact each other. And I would love to meet him and his family. How cool would that be? Anyway, happy 2nd birthday to my blood cells... each one is a gift from God and I am grateful to be well and alive. 

Celebration of Life

I attended the annual bone marrow transplant reunion at City of Hope in Duarte today. At first, I was very excited about it. I just wanted to celebrate with the rest of the recipients, donors, nurses and doctors that were there. This is my second year, after all. Then I bumped into my main BMT doctor and he kinda ruined my day with his comment. So, even though he is my main doctor I decided not to see him anymore because I always have to remind him to order certain labs and check this and check that. In other words, I want him to manage my health, I shouldn't have to call to remind him to place lab orders, etc. So I haven't seen this doctor in months and when I saw him today, he said, "Look at you. You don't look like a chipmunk anymore." WOW! Just wow! Are you effin kidding me? This guy knew what I went through and this is all he had to say to me. I seriously felt like cursing him out, but I didn't... I'm just not that type to make a scene in public. That pretty much ruined everything for me today. After that, I told my husband I wanted to leave... and so we did.

I know I could be really sensitive at times, but it really got me mad when my doctor said that. I thought it was very inhumane and unprofessional of him.

The whole ride home, all I could think about was I once looked like a chipmunk, according to my doctor. FYI, I looked like a chipmunk because I was on steroids. I was on steroids because I had chronic graft vs host disease. I had GVHD because I had a bone marrow transplant. I had a bone marrow transplant because I had Aplastic Anemia and Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria. I will never know what cause my anemia. But whatever it is, I know that God is good for healing me and never leaving my side throughout this ordeal. 

Update

Hello! Hello! I have been super busy working on my Photography site, being a wife and a full-time mom, that I haven't posted on this blog. And my friends Debbie, Marina and Diane had to remind me, "Your last post was from January 21st." LOL. I was in Arizona for a couple of days to see family & friends, while my husband attended a symposium for work. I had such a great time and took so many pictures, only to come home and realize that I can't edit any of them because I shot them in RAW format and my editing software is not compatible with the camera. Argh! I am so frustrated. All I can do for now is convert them to jpeg and work with that. I'm waiting for an update for Lightroom so that I'll be able to edit and post pictures on my blog. In the meantime, check out my Photography site (it still needs a lot of work) www.leicapalma.com I've also posted on my site for the first time today. You gotta give me credit for running two sites ;) I will be keeping this one and will continue to post personal posts on here. The other site is strictly for business. 

Hope all is having a wonderful day! 

Sneak Peek

From Danica's 2nd birthday photo shoot. Aaaah, I love it!

Happy New Year!

Oh my! This is my first post for the year. I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with my blog, been really busy at home with Danica and my house chores. I do have a journal that I write on every day and I've been very active on Instagram. If you have an IG account, feel free to add me: LeicaLoves. Other than that, I'm doing very well. My health is so much better, I have more energy, I feel very alive compared to last year. Haha. Well, I just wanted to say hi to everyone and let you all know that I'm doing well. Hope you are, also! Happy 2013!

Come and See Our Tree!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did. I got to see my family and ate good food. I love this time of the year, especially since we are getting so close to Christmas. And because Thanksgiving has passed, our Christmas tree is finally up. We have a very small tree, but it's perfect for us, a family of 3 plus our dog. I believe it's only a 4 ft tall tree. Next year, we will upgrade to a fresh and bigger tree. I love the smell of fresh Christmas trees. Anyway, lately I've been sitting on the couch and just staring at this beautiful tree. I really love how it turned out. Hope you like our tree. Merry Christmas to all! I wish you all good health, love and peace this Christmas and always! 

Contest

Hi, everyone! I joined a photo contest and need your help. Please click on the link below and "like" it.
http://slrlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?7784-Bokeh-Challenge

THANKS :)