Early Warning System

I will likely never know the origin story for the mantle cell lymphoma that moves freely through my blood and bone marrow. That doesn’t stop my insatiable curiosity from trying. The first thing I learned about my disease is that I’m not the traditional victim. Most folks diagnosed are men in their late 60s or early 70s. I’m a 51-year-old woman. But then again, I have never been accused of being a normal girl.

Ironically, I credit being a woman with prolonging my life. When my body sent off an early warning, I was able to access screenings through my Ob-Gyn that honed in on the culprit.

Now don't get me wrong. It's not like I caught it truly early (I am Stage IV-B). That said, all signs point to being able to knock it into remission for awhile.

My care team is amazing. It includes experts from both the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Center and the Mayo Clinic. With their assistance, I'm embarking on the Nordic Regimen (a friend noted how ominous that sounds). It's six rounds of chemo (half of which are inpatient) over six months, followed by a higher strength chemotherapy with a stem cell rescue.

Last Pic

This is the last photo taken before I lost my hair to chemo. To maintain my agency, it was pulled into a braid and my son cut it off with a bit of ceremony.