7 Years...

Happy Anniversary to Me!!

No, it hasn't been 7 years since I got married.  Not 7 years since our first date, first kiss, first baby, or anything else like that.  Not even 7 years since I started teaching.  But it HAS been 7 years since I found out that I had leukemia.  And, no, it's not even 7 years since I've been in remission.  Because, technically, I'm still not.  But I suppose I'm about as close as I'm going to get...until a new treatment comes around.

So, you might ask, "Why in the world are you celebrating having leukemia for 7 years?!"  Why celebrate more bone marrow aspirations than I can remember (though I've been lucky enough not to need one for the last year and a half)?  Why celebrate having to take an oral chemotherapy pill everyday that gives me side effects ranging from slight hair thinning and fairly strong fatigue to abdominal cramping and severe bone/muscle pain?  Why celebrate the reason I cannot have more kids? 

Well, the reason is this:  Because after living with leukemia for 7 years, I am just that.  Living.

My type of leukemia, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), is not a particularly aggressive form of leukemia.  We caught it early enough, and I was lucky enough, that it was quite treatable.  But the doctors told me not long after I was diagnosed, that if it were to be left undiagnosed and untreated, it would run its course in 7 years.  I would only have 7 years left to be with my family.  7 years left to work...to play..to laugh...to love.

So, here I am 7 years later:  working, playing, laughing, loving...and healthy (relatively speaking).  So, yes.  Today, I am celebrating.  I am celebrating the doctors and the medical treatment that have gotten me this far.  I am celebrating those who have gone before me, who might not be here today.  I am celebrating the fact that, while it could be so much worse, it isn't. 

I celebrate, because I am blessed.  Happy Anniversary to Me.