DEMO DIVA

I have been blasted with Chemo for seven straight days now and tomorrow I get a break and we assess where we are. I met the "BIG DOC" today for the first time. He knew all about me and I told him I was his rock star on the floor and he is very pleased with my progress. I have found my way to the coffee cart for a morning latte the last two days. He was impressed that I made the trek, I feel a little like Typhoid Mary as I have to wear a mask and there's a sign on my ever present IV pole that warns I'm getting Chemo which is kind of funny. People don't seem to know whether to avoid me or try to help me. I plan to walk twice a day for an hour total. They only let me off the floor for 30 minutes at a time and then they send out a posse. My room is beginning to take on more of my aura and I'm adding little bits of color. Very tired today but in a nice mellow sort of way. I'm not bored or frustrated and in fact I think this is a long overdue rest period for me. Re-charge my body and soul and just enjoy being.

Today the hair came off. It will all be fallen out by next week so rather that go through the agony having 18 inch long fall out all over everything I had my friend Jens the stylist shave it to a numby white niceness. I'll tell the story of my snake pit, near death another day, today is fun and feeling good. it also helped to rid my body of much toxic excrement that had been accumulating for 7 days. Took tons of senna, psyllium,colace, lactase along with steroids, antibiotics. diludid,tylenol,oxycontin, benedryl, and antibiotics that cause irregularity. Ellen B and Jen S came by for the haircut party. They were a lot more upset about the hair than myself. They haven't gone crazy in the middle and chills and chattering teeth happened and I needed treatment until the hair was soaked and smelly and matted to my head. The problem of the was a power outage in the main dining hall . It doesn't impact myself so much, but mu King It difficult to find a good woman or man e my arm an into a

I was given the "Demo Diva" title by a customer at Trader Joe's where I am a food Demonstrator. I was singing and making a particularly tasty sample when this fellow and I got to chatting a bit and he said my skills made me the "Demo Diva". I have been making tasty morsels, singing and even busting out a little hula dancing for the Trader Joe's shoppers for almost three years now. It's been a good match for us both. I love my work.

On April 14, 2010 I came down with a flu like illness and didn't get better. After 10 days of fever headache, upset stomach, and congestion a blood test showed that I had symptoms of leukemia. I was admitted to a suburban hospital on Friday night April 23 and thus begins my journey with leukemia and hospitals here in the Philadelphia area. From the Emergency Room I was told that I would be transferred to HUP as soon as a bed became available for my condition in the oncology ward there. I am Neutropenic which means I have very low blood counts and thus a highly compromised immune system. I have the most common form of adult leukemia AML and as of last night am being treated with Chemotherapy.