What leukemia has taught me

I have leukemia. 

Chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Sometimes it helps to say it out loud. So I can hear it. Sometimes it helps to write it down. So I don't forget. So I'm not so hard on myself. And, in trying to make some sense of my new life as a leukemia survivor, I have discovered that I had (and still have) a lot to learn. Life as a cancer survivor, it turns out, has taught me a great deal.

I'm a list maker. So, naturally, I've compiled a list of 10 things - 10 big things - I have learned since my diagnosis.

The first three on my list were so big, so shocking to me, they deserved posts of their own. I've listed them and linked to them below.

1. The oxygen mask goes on me first.  You can read about it here.

2. Chemo Brain is real. Click here.

3. Teenagers are still, well, teenagers. Click here.

I feel as time moves on and I live with this disease items will probably move on and off the list. But today, at the 4 months since diagnosis mark, this is the rest of my Top 10.

4. To Do lists: I will NEVER get the laundry done. And I'm finally OK with that. My To Do list was usually lengthy and detailed. But I'm not able to cross things off my list anymore. I'm too weak, too tired, too queasy, too dizzy, too sick to get anything done. I've learned to create a different list. Now I have a Ta Da list.  It's a list of what I was able to get done. "Ta Da! Look what I did today!"

5. Listening: Within hours of finding out I had leukemia, a friend from my awesome church, let's call her L.B.,  gave me the emotional energy I needed to create team Patticakes for 2013 Light the Night (the main fundraising event for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society). Every excuse I tossed at her she pushed away.

"It's only two weeks until the event. It's not enough time. I can't! No one even knows I have leukemia. I only found out a few hours ago."

She said, "It's perfect timing! You can do this!" 

She was right.

6. Support: More people care about my family and me than I ever realized. The physical support at Light the Night was breathtaking. The fundraising of more than $4500 over two weeks time was nothing short of a miracle. Team Patticakes was the second-highest fundraising team on the Peninsula in 2013. (Relay for Life is coming up ... Get ready!) We have also been blessed with such generous gifts of time, prayers, meals, baskets of snacks, house cleaning, money, cards and love. You have made a difference. 

7. Disease: On Oct. 7, what I knew about Ph+ chronic myelogenous leukemia you could hold in a teaspoon. Today I could explain it as simply or complexly as you want. Cancer research and the scientists who dedicate their lives to fighting this disease are literally saving lives. As little as 10 years ago, my go-to treatment would have been a bone marrow transplant and IV chemotherapy. Sitting in an IV therapy chair for hours at a time. I am fortunate that only four Super Dangerous but Absolutely Necessary chemotherapy pills a day are sufficient to bring my white count under control. I thank God for these scientists every day. They have made a difference

8. Pain: In the beginning, my bones and bone marrow were jam-packed to the brim with leukemia cells. So jam-packed that my spleen started trying to take on the burden of  "I have too many leukemia cells and no where for them to go" and became swollen and very painful. It hurt to eat. It hurt to breathe deeply. It hurt to move my arms and legs. It just plain hurt. Then, after being on chemotherapy for weeks, sometimes when leukemia cells rapidly die off it can cause a release of uric acid, causing intense pain in the legs and arms. So it still hurts. Having leukemia has taught me that I shouldn't suffer through the pain. I shouldn't "buck up" and take it. I should take it easy. Use the prescriptions. Use the heating pad. Sit in a hot tub. Get a massage. Do whatever works. 

9. Love: A good friend of mine once joked that the reason I had so many kids (7) was because I was so high maintenance, it took that many people to take care of me. Ha ha. Something I hear a lot is "Wow, you have your hands full with that big family." I do, I guess. But my heart is full, too. And having a full heart kind of trumps everything else.

What it means is that there is always, always someone here who loves me ... just because I'm me. The way my kids and my husband, the Caregiver, treat me hasn't changed. They love me no matter what. They don't look at me with pity or sadness or tiptoe around because Mommy has cancer. And I love that.

10. Faith: I am not in charge. Of course I didn't want to be diagnosed with cancer. But, it doesn't matter what I want because I'm not in charge. God is. My father died when I was 9. My husband died when the oldest of our four children was 9 leaving me a widow at 35. And, now, a cancer diagnosis. But my life is far from over and I expect there will be other trials I will have to face. 

And that's OK. God has been with me every step and will continue to be with me. Sometimes carrying me. Sometimes holding me up. Sometimes pushing me. But, hopefully, shining through me. 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11