Hi everyone! Today is World Cancer Day so I thought it was a great time for a quick post, even though I’m in the middle of midterms at the moment. Yes, it’s the first week in February. Yes that’s early and some people just finished their second week of classes. Drexel has quarters – which I love – but they confuse everyone else.
My next appointment at CHOP isn’t until next week so there isn’t much to report from the doctors but the real-life effects of cancer are still around. The good news is that (knock on wood) the IVIG infusions and hand sanitizer have been pretty effective at keeping me healthy. Even though people in my classes have had pretty awful colds, I’ve made it through the first month without catching much which is pretty impressive for my baby immune system. This week also marked the first time that I walked to campus just because I could. I didn’t have any appointments or important meetings, but I got a few things done like finally updating my school ID that expired in 2013…oops. I went to my co-op adviser’s drop-in hours while I was over there and it ended up being a pretty good day! It’s really nice to feel less limited by my energy level because in the past I’ve had to decline friends’ invitations to meet for lunch because it was too far out of my way. My legs still aren’t completely straight but I’m walking a lot faster and stairs are getting much easier so I know I’m making progress. In my last post, I mentioned how it was a lot easier to get back into the routine of being at school than I expected. Since then, I’ve realized that statement was a little misleading. It was really easy to get used to going to class and figuring out a routine for my time between classes. Yes, I’ve gone to the same food truck often enough that they see me and know my order. However, it hasn’t been easy at all to find my place again. I didn’t realize it for the first few weeks because I was still unpacking and arranging, catching up with my boyfriend, and sleeping a lot because classes were wearing me out. I’m obviously all moved in now, and my strength has greatly improved over the last month so I haven’t been as exhausted. When I finally had a bunch of free time this week, reality hit me. Freshman year was the last time I lived on campus. I had an amazing roommate and other good friends on my floor who were only a few steps away. I was very involved in The Triangle, Drexel’s newspaper, and took on more responsibilities throughout the year. I was in the office at least three nights a week and became good friends with the staff so I frequently saw them on weekends too. Fast forward more than 18 months and I’m finally back on campus. I no longer live on campus and while I’m happy to have my own room, I definitely miss having friends just outside my door. I’m living with one other girl who is very nice but I don’t know her very well and she is on co-op so she’s rarely here. I went to a Triangle meeting and only knew four people because the rest of my friends there have graduated or aren’t there for other reasons. Over the past week, I caught up with a few of my friends from freshman year and I’m so thankful I did. I was starting to worry that I didn’t really have anyone here anymore, but they cheered me up a lot. It’s a complicated decision trying to figure out who I should reach out to after all this time and who I am too disconnected from now. I went to a few club meetings and I’m looking forward to getting more involved in them during the rest of the term. I also found out that Drexel offers a BS/MS program for my major (thanks Sara!). I had looked up the program before but somehow ended up on a page that was only for engineering students. I’m meeting with my adviser about it later this week and will most likely apply! I’d get two degrees in my five years at Drexel. I finally had enough energy and time to go around and meet/thank some of the people who helped me keep up with Drexel during my treatment. These individuals did so much for me without even knowing me, and finally talking to them has opened up some more potential opportunities for activities and projects to get involved in here and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they play out. Over the next few weeks, I have interviews for co-op positions which I’m excited for but also nervous about. In a few short weeks, I’ll have to pick one and I’m not sure I’m ready to decide yet whether I want to live here or at home. Luckily, I have a little bit of time. As I said, I have midterms this week so it’s been pretty busy but so far they’ve been going pretty well. One of my classes is called Electronic Publishing, and we’ve been looking at a lot of blogs. Some of them have given me ideas for this one and have reminded me to post more often. I came across one that mentioned the April A-Z challenge, where you blog about something from each letter of the alphabet throughout the month on every day except Sundays (which ends up being 26 days, one for each letter). I’m considering taking the challenge since I’m trying to get back in to writing more. If anyone wants to join me, let me know! Even my idea of a “short post” turned out to be pretty long and it has been a bit of a challenge to write and share with the world but I promised a while back that I would be honest about this whole journey and getting back to normal life is a big part of that journey. I’m incredibly thankful to be back at school and getting healthier, but being better does not mean that life is immediately perfect again and I think a lot of people don’t always realize that. This post wouldn’t be complete without a HUGE thank you to all of my amazing friends and family who have helped me smile through the frustration and tears of feeling lost and confused this past week in a place that used to feel so natural to me. And of course, in honor of World Cancer Day, it’s only appropriate to give a shout-out to all of the people I call my cancer family – the individuals I am lucky to know and would never have met if it wasn’t for such a terrible disease. You know who you are: survivors, fighters, angels, nurses or friends/family of any of those people. You guys all rock!
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AuthorI’m Karen. I was originally diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in August 2004 when I was 10 years old. When I was working on my college and scholarship application essays two years ago, I wrote about my journey. Although it was a rough few years, it became such an influential part of my life that I can’t, and wouldn’t want to, imagine my life without having had cancer. I called it the worst best thing that ever happened to me. Archives
April 2022
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