Hello Everyone!
I have posted several articles on the website but am very much behind on the general update. I apologize and here goes!
So many wonderful things have been happening with my writing! The great liaison, Audrey Hassan, with the MDS Foundation found me through the website. She called and asked me to write an article on my MDS Journey. I asked how long and she said any length. I looked at some other stories and spent several days pondering over the article. After I sent it, she called me and asked permission to feature it in the next E-news and in the print copy in the fall. I did not think it was that good and was so happy! It is under the story “My MDS Journey…And Lessons Learned” on my Life Blog.
What I did not include on the blog was the timing of her call. I had been exceptionally tired for several weeks. A bone marrow biopsy and blood work found me going backwards. My oncologist called the Cleveland Clinic, which is an hour away from where I live. She told her contact I was a writer and he said there was a great doctor there by the name of Mikkael Sekeres, who was an expert on MDS and also a writer! He writes human and patient interest articles for the New York Times and I loved his articles. I started on Procrit shots to get my red blood count up and two days later was at the clinic. He was great and we really hit it off. He said there were two more possible chemos for me coming up for approval. Meanwhile I could take the Procrit shots for about a year. Since I was up against the expected length of my life I was thrilled! This man has an international reputation!
I did ask him when he found time to write in his busy life. He replied that he wrote while he was traveling. He asked me and I explained that many afternoons I went to the nearest coffee shop and wrote there. He said “Isn’t it noisy?” I laughed and told him I just take my hearing aids out – he loved that!
It is great not to have the side effects from the chemo, and I have been going strong. I am close to 100 articles for Cure Magazine since I started several years ago. Cure Magazine picked one of my stories for their print copy for the spring edition and their new magazine, Heal, just published another one for their spring edition also.
Meanwhile, I am struggling with both a title and finishing up my book on growing up deaf. It keeps expanding as I find more and more to write about! It will be around 90 chapters long. I have them handwritten and then will type them into the computer – then revise and revise. There is so much to tell – an advantage of being old!
I am also on a committee for patients who are giving input for the brand new Cancer Center at Aultman Medical Center, where I get my treatments. A group of physicians, architects, administration, nurses and patients met for a couple of days at the Football Hall of Fame center. I learned so much and am excited to see they will break ground soon! I will keep you informed!!
Finally – I am still working with Circle Tail, where I got Sita from. I am going down in two weeks to visit a college friend, and will take a carload of towels, sheets, and other items for the puppies there. Sita is doing amazingly well and sits outside by the hour in the warm weather. Here she is chilling while I am writing at Starbucks patio!
That is all for now and I will keep you posted! Have a wonderful summer!!!