Cancer Blues

It's another Blue Monday, and Day 2 of my Birthday Week Giveaways! I didn't want to miss Blue Monday, so how do I tie it in with the cancer theme? It took some brain stretching, but it finally came to me! I was giving myself my insulin and noticed that the pen was blue! It was an AHA! moment! I would share blue items that relate to my experience with cancer in some way! After checking out my post, visit Smiling Sally and follow the links to see what others have on display.So, as I said, my insulin pen is blue. Let's follow the dominoes back to the start of why insulin relates to my cancer, shall we? (1) I developed graft vs. host disease about 9 months after my transplant. (2) To control the GVHD, I began taking Prednisone, a standard steroid, at very high doses. (3) Super high doses of steroids have all sorts of weird effects on all the body systems. (4) I now have Type 2 diabetes, similar to pregnant women having gestational diabetes. It is under control, and should go away eventually when I am weaned off the Prednisone.
This picture has 3 blue items! The technicians at Dana-Farber all have to wear these blue coats. It is a new thing in the last month, and they don't like them. Also in this picture is the blue foam thing I am using to rest my arm, as well as the rubber tourniquet! Check out that swollen head from all the Prednisone!When a person is registered with the National Marrow Registry, she may receive a call that there is a potentially matched patient somewhere in the world who needs her help. The potential donor will go to a hospital or blood lab, all arranged by the patient's doctors and paid for by the patient's insurance. The test is done right here where I am sitting! As a matter of fact, my sister sat in this chair to have her blood taken when they were checking to see if she was a match. The best chance of a match is a sibling, but we didn't match up. Several tubes of blood are drawn and tested to see if there are enough "markers" to continue on and prepare the registered person to donate peripheral blood cells, AKA bone marrow.

Curel is one of the best lotions I have found for dry skin from chemo and radiation. It is not super-thick, the way many dry skin lotions are formulated. This is important because radiation burns are very sensitive and I wanted a lotion that kind of floated over the skin as it is applied, not something that had to be rubbed into the skin. There are other good lotions, but they don't come in blue bottles!
My pillbox is also blue. I have a 4-compartment box for each day of the week. This way I only have to open the medicine bottles once a week and everything is ready if I go out for the day. Each day I take 27 pills from 15 different prescriptions. This is on top of at least 2 insulin shots and a shot of Interleukin-2 every day. Here is my Rubbermaid no-BPA waterbottle. Don't want that BPA, it causes cancer! (Like everything else.) It goes everywhere with me. When a patient is having chemotherapy it is very important to keep hydrated. Then with the diabetes and the Prednisone I find I am very thirsty, too. One of the biggest reasons I carry it now is that coughing practically kills me. My lungs don't have enough power or air in them for me to cough, so I have to drink something all the time.
That's it for this week's Blue Monday! There are many other participants you can visit at Smiling Sally's blog.
NOW for the GIVEAWAY question of the day... You MUST answer the question in the Comments for THIS POST to be eligible. You also must have a way for me to contact you when you win. You do not have to have a blog to enter, and you can be from anywhere in the world!

What is the major cancer hospital where I receive treatment, AND in what city is it located?