Introduction

Hi, I'm Jackie and welcome to my blog.  

My family and I are starting this blog primarily as a means to keep family, friends, colleagues and pretty much anyone else who is interested, updated with my journey through the treatment of myelofibrosis and the resulting bone marrow transplant.  Eventually I hope this also may be used as a resource for others starting or going through this treatment.  A word of caution to those who are starting their journey, be careful.  There are many blogs, vlogs and other info out there with all the good and bad experiences people have had.  Please remember everyones journey and experiences will be different.  It is very easy to go down a plethora of rabbit holes that are out there (which is exactly what I did). 


I am a mother of 3 lovely young adults (Simon, Nathaniel and Kaitlyn) and a wife of an exceptionally supportive husband (Mike) and we call an acreage west of the City of Edmonton home.  If you are reading this, you probably know something about me or my family so this is hard to write but here it goes. I have had a rewarding career as a Laboratory Information System manager.  I enjoy backpacking, reading, baking, travelling, camping, and Kung Fu.  I enjoy doing these activities with my family and friends.  As a family we have focused the past few decades on creating memories with various experiences and adventures.  We have always liked trying new things which has led us to taking sailing lessons, buying a small sail boat, remodelling trailers, and traveling across Canada (for Canada's 150th anniversary) in our SUV/travel trailer.  We have spent countless nights sleeping in the Rocky Mountain backcountry and endless hours driving to nowhere in particular.  The last few years I’ve enjoyed planting my garden boxes and experimenting with making my own dehydrated backpacking meals.  I have also just successfully completed my blackbelt grading in Kung Fu.

Thank you for sharing our journey with us, the support we have already experienced from our community of family, friends and colleagues is nothing short of amazing.  

We truly couldn't do this without a little help from our friends.

Stay tuned,  we will be sending out some updates fairly regularly as we will get the blog caught up to real time.

Jackie, Mike and family.



Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 29, 2022 at 4:00 PM

    Hugs. Thank you for keeping all of us looped in. Lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 29, 2022 at 4:18 PM

    All the Best Wishes Aunty and family. We will be Praying.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 26, 2022 at 11:00 AM

    Thanks for keeping us updated. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Love Auntie Marg

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 12, 2022 at 2:21 PM

    Jackie, Mike & Family 💕
    The Bondy’s are here for you in any way possible. Please let me know if I can help w anything up here while you are in Calgary. Sending you all our LOVE & Healing.
    Lori & Family

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

July 22, 2022 Update - Day 79

Image
Duck, Duck ... Happy Friday everyone! This week has been really good.  Jackie is consistently feeling better each day and we try to get out and do different things to keep our days somewhat busy.  Apparently, if you get up and going early in the morning, no one else seems to be at malls, parks and other areas.  Although we are getting out, we have been able to avoid people as much as possible, I'm not sure if you are aware, but people are the worst!   Having said that, some people are simply delightful and we have had the opportunity to visit and be visited by friends as well.  I'm sure you can imagine how great that is.  Jackie has been getting plenty of exercise doing laps (well maybe lap) of different malls, getting out to Bowness park (If you have never been, I suggest you should) and even got out to see a few innings of a U18 baseball game.  The game was probably Jackie's highlight.  She loved the park but didn't care too much for the ge...
Read more

The Process

As you can imagine, it was been quite the learning curve since we first found out my condition had progressed.  Beyond understanding my condition in both general terms and specific to me, we very quickly became immersed in learning treatment options and modalities.    The first step to this journey was being admitted to the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT)  program.  We initially thought it was a given to be accepted into the program but soon realized that I needed to meet certain criteria.  Mike and I met with the transplant team on December 23, 2021 via a video conference for my initial consultation.  We were very anxious prior to this meeting as we did not know what to expect, but our anxieties (at least the ones we had going into the consult) were soon alleviated. We were provided a lot of information regarding options, the process moving forward and found out it short order I was in fact accepted to the transplant program. A Bone Marrow Transplan...
Read more

September 18, 2022 Update

Image
So I've been home for over a month now and things are progressing slowly but surely, including writing a blog update.  Sorry for the delay.   When I first came home, I was not able to walk up a half flight of our stairs very easily and now I can come up from the basement with very little issue.  I have been more active, but am still surprised how some things can tucker me out completely. I've joined the ACE program which is a rehabilitation exercise program for cancer patients and tomorrow is my first day.  I did the fitness assessment last week and it was a little intimidating.  I was measured to see how far I could walk for 6 minutes at a brisk pace.  I almost tripped twice but got through it with my legs feeling the burn. That was only 6 minutes!  There were some aspects that I did well on (stretching and flexibility) and I credit that to the consistent Tai Chi that I have been doing through this journey.   One item that has been bugging me for...
Read more