That was super easy and efficient, as always, here at the Mayo Clinic.  As my son Andrew texted me back:   ” Step 1 complete, easy breezy”

I was enjoying a little pre-op conversation and then …lights out…and the next thing I hear is wake up, Mrs. Callahan. I asked the surgeon what music he was listening to during the surgery, and they did not have any music in the room, hmmm…I think they were but did not want to tell me…and then I told the team that I got a lot of emails done, so it was a very productive time together!  WHAT?  they laughed and off I went to a quick recovery and some “bird food” chips for breakfast.  That is what Stacey, my recovery nurse called them..  Darn Gluten Free Chips!  I am celiac, so I have a gluten free diet and they need to work on the variety of snacks for us “special patients”.

Very cool experience and I was done in a couple hours, so I have the rest of the day to do anything I want.  I feel great and no side effects!    AND THE SUN IS OUT TODAY, which is a big deal here in Minnesota, in March ~~~~

I never thought too much about “good morning” as a phrase since we say it all the time, but it is a Good Morning today. I have to get a Hickman catheter put in today and they don’t give out an appt until late the night before so you have no idea what time. Turns out my appt time is 7:00 am, which is great, because once they are done, in a couple hours, I have a full day of nothing else to do here. Meaning I have another full day to enjoy some exercise and good food !

Come on sunshine, I need you to pop out of the clouds and brighten the skies for us. High of 35 is doable for a long doggie walk this afternoon.

I woke up in the middle of the night, which is rare for me, and started to set up my site for my blog.  I was overwhelmed with the support of family and friends over the past couple of weeks!  Maybe this will give me an outlet to share my journey with you.

  After a year and a half of discovery, education, life altering routines and incredible events, I decided it was time to set this in motion.  Being diagnosed with stage 1 multiple myeloma, a fairly rare cancer, was a shock to me and my husband” Jim,  but I am grateful to Dr. Robert Rifkin for staying with me, for over a year of appointments and discussions.   Through his meticulous and mysterious, at times, review of my symptoms, he was able to figure it out at a very early stage 1….and it is even more rare to find this cancer at such an early stage, because I had no pain or evident mm symptoms!

More on how I got to this day later.

  Bottom line is that the best and most effective treatment for MM ( multiple myeloma) is a cocktail of 3 drugs for several months to lower the mm cells. Than proceed with a stem cell harvest from my own body, and then a transplant procedure to “kill” off bone marrow stem cells in my body, that may still be an issue long term and give me back my clean and stronger, normal stem cells, we collected last summer.  So that is where I am now.  -2 days before I take a healthy dose of Chemo and start the process.  I like to call it a new adventure!  Like many things I have done so far, it is unchartered territory and it will be filled with new experiences, both mentally and physical, but that’s what I look forward to.  And I am completely impressed with the Mayo Clinic, in MN, doctors, staff, and campus!

I have continued to prepare for this since the summer of 2017 by simply paying attention to a “balance” in my day to day life. Just doing all the things we always hear from others: eat a nutritional diet, exercise, learn to relax more, build stronger friendships, spend quality time with family, try some alternative medicines: I am loving yoga, acupuncture, healing touch massage, breathing and mindfulness techniques.

These used to be lower on my daily priority list, so it definitely took a lot of practice and patience with myself to learn how to adjust my thinking each day. Without the diagnosis,  I am sure I would still be grabbing a McDonalds shake & fries for lunch on a regular basis!  It feels really good these days to allow myself a few minutes throughout the day to simply stop and observe and enjoy the ” me time” to clear my thoughts and appreciate that moment.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.  By: Izaak Walton