One year old

It is one year since my transplant. June 23rd has become my second birthday!

It is hard to describe how I feel. On a simplistic level, glad to be alive and well. More philosophically, it has made me think about "luck". There is an expression "you make your own luck", which means that we can take choices and make decisions whereby good and bad luck just dictate the level of success we achieve. A very famous example of this kind of luck was when Gary Player played out of a bunker and into the hole, and someone watching said he was "lucky", to which Gary replied "the harder I practice, the luckier I get".

But getting leukaemia is a different kind of "luck". It was a random event, something that cannot be planned for, nor predicted. Similarly, my brother being a match for me as a donor is another kind of luck again. And us both being CMV negative.

Some things which were lucky I did have some control over. I was lucky not to get a bad infection after the transplant; but then I was very careful! I am lucky to have Rose to look after me :)

I know that my life expectancy is still not normal, but I do feel this is an important milestone. I will continue to blog after each of my clinic visits; at some point they will become quarterly rather than monthly.

Thank you all for your kind wishes and support over the worst times of my illness.