My blogging beginning...

          At a recent birthday celebration for my grandmother, my great aunt mentioned her own upcoming 80th birthday and how unbelievable it is to reach that age so quickly.  She said if she could do it all over again, she would journal because it's impossible to remember all of the things she's done and experienced over the course of her life.  After a rough year and an amazing summer, I decided a blog would be a good way to record my experiences for myself while also reaching out to others at the same time.  I am about to complete my 28th year and I am beyond fortunate to have made it this far.  If it weren't for modern medicine, I wouldn't be here today and my son would grow up without a mother. Before October of last year, I was a very healthy, active, and physically fit mother of a healthy toddler.  I was passionate about health and nutrition, often reading books and articles on the subject.  I made green smoothies every morning for my family and bought organic fruits, veggies, and whole grains.  Soon after I turned 28, I became very sick.  I thought I had eaten something that had upset my stomach, but after a week I decided I needed to go to the emergency room.  My liver enzymes were extremely elevated and tests were run to determine if I had any of the known Hepatitis viruses, CMV, Parvo, autoimmune, and a million other possible diseases.  I was referred to a GI doctor, and even more tests were run.  Every test came back negative, and they continued to come back negative for every possible disease tested for throughout my sickness.  I couldn't get out of bed, except for doctor visits, for 7 weeks.  I couldn't take care of my son or husband and I couldn't eat.  I lived solely on Gatorade.  My liver numbers after the 7 weeks started to fall back to normal, but then my platelets (blood clotting cells) began to drop.  Soon after that, the rest of my bone marrow failed.  In December, I was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia (bone marrow failure) and in March, I had a bone marrow transplant, courtesy of my older brother who was also my match.  I was in the hospital for the better part of 6 months.  My mother never left my side.  I didn't see my son for a long time and I wasn't sure I was going to make it.  In May, when I finally got to come home, I started the best summer of my life.  I did experience a brief road block a few weeks after my return home, where I most likely had a little graft-vs-host disease (where my new bone marrow attacked my digestive tract) and had to return to the hospital, but I made it through that and was able to spend my summer with my family.  There is a lot I don't remember of my illness, which is fortunate for me.  My mom, however, didn't have the luxury of some pretty good drugs and probably remembers more than she would like but we're on the other side of it now and it's a far better side to be on.  I feel good again, almost like it didn't happen and it's still crazy to me that it did.  My hair is slowly growing back and is currently a soft fuzz of black that almost covers my scalp.  I bare the scars of my trifusion, port, and bone marrow biopsies, but I survived and I definitely have some pride in that.  Life is good again.