Hi Viki. You are right, my AML diagnosis was a complete shock. To that point, I’d seldom ever been sick or hospitalized except for the birth of our daughter. I did everything right! Ate super healthy, exercised, didn’t smoke and had occasional glasses of wine! At 65, I was feeling great and thought I might just cruise into my ‘golden years’ without an issue. Hah! Mother Nature had other plans…LOL. Anyway, lots of chemo and a bone marrow transplant 5 years ago has me in a durable remission. I quite honestly feel that nothing ever happened.
I learned that things I feared most in life such cancer or chemo, turned out not to be the worst things in life.
I’m so grateful for the medical care I received at my local clinic and Mayo-Rochester. Without their dedication and concern, quite frankly I’d be pushing up daisies from the underside many years ago already.
That’s why I’m here in Connect…to offer hope and encouragement for anyone faced with a blood or bone marrow cancer/condition.

I started a new discussion a few years ago for other bone marrow transplant members and shared my experience with both AML and the transplant.
This is one of my replies to another member who shared her story:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/335081/
A few years ago, I was able to actually meet a young woman I mentored through her transplant. An editor from Mayo picked up the story and published the article. Sky, the young woman in the story has now graduated from her university and is heading to grad school!
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/about-connect/newsfeed-post/mayo-clinic-connect-brings-together-2-women-with-leukemia-46-years-apart/
I’m so happy that you’re doing well with your treatments, Viki. Better living through chemistry, right? 😅