Food, Family, and Lifestyle
It’s been four years since my stem cell transplant. Four years since I was infused with new stem cells from my donor. Four years. In my prayers each day I express how thankful I am that my health is restored and maintained. I pray that it is maintained for another 40 or more years. I…
Remember years back when this was mostly a food blog? There were some posts about my family and our life but mostly food. Then my posts became less frequent when I went back to work in clinical research. Then Leukemia came. Twice. Since then most of my posts have been about stem cell/marrow transplants. Why…
Lately, all I hear my daughter and her friends talking about are two topics: college acceptances and chai latte. The chai latte they are raving about is the chai latte made at our local coffee shop, Junk & Java. As a result of all of this chai latte talk, I can’t get enough of chai…
Today I shared a photo in my Instagram and Facebook stories with the text ‘Brussels sprouts crack’ and my goodness, I had so many messages asking me to share more about the Brussels sprouts ‘crack’, so I sat down immediately to write this post. To be honest, I only called this Brussels sprouts recipe ‘crack’…
I despise using the word hate. But I hate a few dates on the calendar. Even the weeks leading up to them bring on bouts of anxiety. Diagnosis four years ago. Relapse three years ago. Within the same cluster of days. I have kept myself very busy the past few days and have tried not…
Back in February I told you that I was working to rebuild and transform my body after the stem cell transplant. I shared what the first two years of recovering were like and that I was ready to build transform my body into one that is stronger and more capable than ever. What I did…
When you have been diagnosed with, and are fighting, a life-threatening disease, you set goals around medical milestones. The first 100 days after stem cell transplant are a big deal as far as rejection, infections, survival. Stopping anti-rejection medications is the next milestone. Each clean biopsy. The 1-year mark when you can begin vaccines. The…
Today is my 2-year post-stem cell transplant anniversary. As of today, I am permitted to write my donor revealing my identity and sharing my contact information (before today, I was not allowed to share personally identifying information). In celebration of this occasion, I am sharing the letter that I wrote this past fall that Be…
How do you make banana cream pie? Ever since I was young, I have loved banana cream pie. In fact, I would choose banana cream pie over chocolate cake any day. The biggest issue I had with the banana cream pies people made when I was a child is that they put nuts in the…
