Happy birthday to me, myself and I

The stem cell - pluripotent. Special.

According to Wikipedia, December 8 is the 342nd day of the year, the day that John Lennon was shot dead and Archduke Maximilian Franz of Austria was born. It's also my 'other' birthday or rather Day Zero.


I can't quite believe that this time last year I was having a full on chemical romance to fully get rid of this cancer and so get better. One year on, I'm still in complete remission and still standing. Go me! 


To add to the whole medical drama that is my life, I have been unwell most of this week. Nothing more dramatic than a nasty cold/flu virus I have picked up but ill all the same. I'm feeling better now although I did feel like I was going to die a couple of days ago! This time last year when I could have actually died, I felt OK. Strange how that happens.


Anyway, last year I do remember telling myself that I would mark this day in some way each year even if it is just by eating cake. Or having a glass of wine. I have to toast each one of the 3.6 million stem cells pumped back into me somehow! Each and every one of them. Even the ones in the freezer. I hasten to add that these aren't next to our frozen peas or garlic bread but the ones held in storage at the hospital for when I need them. As of today, there isn't actually a cure for myeloma yet, just lots of treatment options.  No one can actually tell me how many years I have till my expiry date. Two years? Four years? Ten years? Twenty? Erm, we're not quite sure. I'm hoping it may never come back but no one can tell me that.


It's not ideal, in fact it is rather crap but what can you do? I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. It's just a question of getting on with my life. As written about on here over the past year and where I hope to keep mentioning the shenanigans that I get up to for many years to come.


Last weekend it was all about De La Soul at Indigo at the O2 where I nearly put my joints out dancing to old school hip hop and where Mat left his Surrey roots behind and got all 'street.'  All we needed were the tracksuits and bling and we would have been there I tell you.  There. It was possibly one of the best gigs I have been to in a while and brought back memories of my youth, when life was less complicated and not as scary. 


Anyway, apparently if a stem cell had a face it would look like the one above. Thank you Mat :-) I couldn't think of a better looking one for it. I'm off to get my groove on.  Happy birthday to me, myself and I.