NYU

Midterm Report: Chemo Trifecta

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Ten weeks have passed since my Lymphoma adventure started. I continue to do very well, and had a great week on the journey I’ve been taking.

I finished round 3 of chemo last friday, and the side effects were, again, minimal. The most significant has been the fatigue, which an afternoon catnap and a tall half-caf from Starbucks pretty much takes care of. My biggest worry, like last time, was reacting to the Neulasta shot that I get to reduce the risk of infection while my white counts are low, a condition called neutropenia. People often experience bone pain, which I did pretty severely after the first round, but much less so after the second one. This time, it was about the same as round 2, maybe even slightly less so, and was again manageable with a little Tylenol.

I was able to connect in person with some friends for lunch and coffee—nice to see you Linda, Gloria, Joni, Ted, and Bill—some others for dinner and Scrabble—good game Jim and Kristy (btw, check out their sites if you need a massage or copy editing, respectively)—and also meet face-to-face for the first time with Zeth, my new Cancer Pal and colleague at NYU SCPS CADA. (Seriously, everything at NYU has to have at least three words in its name and an acronym.)

On the career front, I continue to stay busy, which is helpful to keep me from going stir crazy as treatment becomes more and more routine. I’m focusing on my online teaching, which lets me work from home and have a flexible schedule. That’s a huge plus if I have appointments or just want to take a break and rest a bit. My new course, Design For Coders, for new client LearnToProgram.tv, is open in early access for beta testing, and I self-published another, Interactive PDFs with Adobe InDesign: No-Code Digital (click here to get it for free through the end of the month). I was also excited to be honored with a 2013 American Graphic Design Award!

It’s a little hard to believe that I’m over the halfway mark, but I’m looking forward to continuing full speed ahead through the second half, and having a strong finish in November. Thanks to everyone for your continued love, support, and positive thoughts/prayers/vibes/energy. Lotsa love to you all!

Oh, and PS: I ordered the 32GB iPhone 5s in Space Gray. 🙂

Cancer Pals

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Hollis, my friend, colleague, and fellow cancer survivor (yes, I unapologetically will take the liberty of making that prediction) wrote this in a message to me, after learning the news of my diagnosis:

Something that will surprise you (as it did me) is that you may make a circle of cancer pals.”

One of those cancer pals, is Zeth. My friend, CM, who is also a survivor, knows his sister-in-law, and realized that he and I both teach in the same department at NYU, were both diagnosed with the same type of lymphoma, and both have blogs about it. What are the odds?! Zeth included me in a post in his blog, and so I’m returning the favor, with a thanks to him and all my pals, cancer and otherwise.