I Can't Believe It's Happening!

Every week the EtsyBloggers Team has a carnival with the theme suggested by a member. This week, Rainy Day Art has asked us to write about an accomplishment or goal reached. I am going to share with you a long story that will lead up to a goal I have had since September 28, 2006.

I haven't written about my health lately, so if you are a newer visitor, you can read all about my Cancer Journey in these older posts. Here's a quick re-cap, and a picture of me with my donor's bone marrow cells. After a bone marrow transplant a patient no longer has an immune system. This has to be rebuilt, just as it is in a newborn child. Even all of the standard childhood vaccines have to be given again. Something that delays this process is the side effect of certain medications which halts the growth of the immune system. So for almost 4 years, any small germ, could have become a catastrophic illness for me, and larger ones could have killed me.

Being a teacher has been my passion since I was a small child, so being unable to work, and the possibility that I would never teach again has haunted me more than any fears of long-term chronic illness or even death. Children are major germ carriers, so a school is no place for a bone marrow patient. Long-time readers know how I love to teach something in my Vintage Thingies Thursday posts!
For these 4 years, my world has shrunk to my townhouse, where I live alone, the television, and the internet. I have friends and family who would come by, but I pretty much went nowhere except to the doctor every two weeks. Side effects from the transplant and various medications caused me to be on oxygen, develop cataracts, have constant shaky hands/feet, and my face became a giant prednisone pumpkin-head. I was even using the motorized carts if I absolutely had to go to a store. (The picture above was taken November 2008, 18 months ago.) Almost everything I bought was online, including groceries and prescriptions. However, in the last 9 months my world has become larger. I have the strength to do my own errands, I can see to drive and read, my hands no longer shake, and I am able to breathe so that I can actually walk and talk at the same time! (That's not a joke.) You may even notice that I do not post as often, nor do I get to all my blog visiting, because I'm out in the real world. I have even returned to working, two days a week at the school department's central office.

I still take 29 pills a day, 2 liquid doses, and 2 injections, but I have not used my oxygen tank for 2 months! And, because of the breathing problems I've lost over 100 pounds in the last 18 months!

To the world I look fabulous, a new woman with a slightly pumpkin-face, but inside I am still vulnerable to any germ out there, until I get my full round of vaccines this autumn. My mom took this picture 3 weeks ago.
September 28, 2006 was the last day I was in a classroom. Since I was 4 years old, I have only missed 4 "first day of school". I am excited, nervous, and thrilled to announce that September 1, 2010 will be my 36th First Day of School!! Maybe I'll even take a dorky picture with my lunchbox to share with all of you! So, thank you Rainy Day Art, for choosing  a topic for this week's EtsyBloggers Team carnival that fits perfectly into my life right now!