One Year Later

It’s just about a year since I returned from my first trip to Reno for treatment.  My cancer markers have remained in the “low normal” range for all this time, so things are looking really good.  Thank you to everyone who contributed time and energy , love and money, towards making my treatment and recovery possible.

To see some of the wonderful donor comments from this past year of fundraising, please check out these links (and click on “Donors” tab) :

http://www.giveforward.com/megpattersonfund

http://www.giveforward.com/Meg-Patterson-Breast-Cancer-Fund

http://www.giveforward.com/megpatterson

[I had to keep varying the name of the fundraiser to keep my site up on GiveForward.  I will be revising the site soon and opening it again to accept new online donations.  In the meantime, donation checks can always be sent to: Meg Patterson Cancer Fund, c/o Clatsop Community Bank, 988 Commercial Street, Astoria, OR 97103]

There were also wonderfully inspiring notes and cards and emails that came and helped give me courage throughout the year.  Thank you all so much.

In October 2010, Mark and I finally got married!  There are wedding pictures at www.megpatterson.org

And this Spring, I began graduate school!  I am studying for my MA in Humanities at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara.  It’s a hybrid online/residential program, so I work mostly online and go down to Pacifica once each semester.  The photo is me on my first day of school in 30 years, with my new friend Debbie (photo by another new friend, Rachel Ford).

I’m moving slowly into what cancer survivors call “the new normal” stage of the journey, although the doctors never use the word “remission” with Stage IV cancer.  All I know is that my markers are normal, I feel fine mostly, and I am working hard to rebuild my life.  Cancer will always be a hum in the background though, and I will always be “in treatment” in terms of diet, supplements, and naturopathic protocols, which are costly and time-consuming.  The gift of survival comes with the knowledge that things will never be quite the same.

Advertisement