Welcome Back Party

Take a look at my amazing "welcome back" party at KDLT (February 22, 2010). I'm so grateful that my work threw me this incredible party. It really made me feel so special and important. I was really nervous and anxious to move back and be alone, but these amazing people made me feel so welcomed and loved. I'm so happy that I have this wonderful and supportive family in Sioux Falls. These people are the BEST! Thank you everyone!!!

Danielle

VIDEO: A Look Back Story

In this story I take a look back at my 6 month journey fighting cancer. It has been an incredible fight filled with my high and low points. I have learned so much about myself over the past few months and I'm so grateful for where I am today. Unexpectant events happen in life and you have to do your best when dealing with them. This story ran on KDLT News at 6 on February 25, 2010

Danielle

Back At Work

Hard at work again! February 23, 2010

Danielle

VIDEO: "A Look Back" Promo

Dont miss as I look back at my fight with cancer tonight on KDLT.

Danielle

VIDEO: I'm Back! Promo

February 22, 2010

VIDEO: I'm Back Evening Interview

Here is my first interview back on KDLT with Jessica Hopkins and Tom Hanson on February 22, 2010. I'm really excited to be back and to be returning to a normal lifestyle again. Of course I'm going to miss my family and friends back in California, but I'm glad I am well enough to return back to work. I feel going back to work is a first sign that I'm getting better.

Danielle

VIDEO: New Cancer Therapy

On my second day back (February 23, 2010) I got to do a great story at Avera McKennan Hospital, where I received my chemotherapy sessions. The hospital just received nearly $2.5 million for new technology. The new radiation machine will allow doctors to use radiation inside the operating room for breast cancer patients. This will be a great help for patients who have to travel far for their treatments! Danielle

A Good Heart

Today has been a great day! This morning I met with my heart doctor, Dr. Hamilton in Beverly Hills, and received some good news. I had a heart echo test performed and according to the results, Dr. Hamilton says my ejection fraction has not decreased. The technology involved with the heart echo test is amazing. Basically the heart echo uses high-frequency sound waves to create a picture of your heart. I always love to watch my heart on the screen during the test! I can't peal my eyes off of the screen. Its kind of like when you're staring at a campfire and the flames capture your attention. It amazes me how this one organ can do so much constant work day after day, and without it, all life would end. What a fantastic new sense of appreciation for the human body.

So today's ultrasound allowed the technician to measure my ejection fraction. I of course was worried that my ejection fraction had decreased from the continued effects of the chemotherapy, but much to the doctor's and my surprise it didn't! The doctor says as long as I don't receive anymore chemotherapy or radiation and remain healthy, she thinks my heart should be in good shape. She of course wants to see me again in six months for another heart echo, but in the meantime I can slowly start to exercise.

And in celebration of this good news I went to the beach after the doctor's appointment. What a beautiful day today in Los Angeles- with a high of 79 in February, you really can't complain! Well, I went for a jog at the beach and ended up jogging for 30 minutes, a time I must say I'm really impressed with. I made sure to listen to my body and not push myself too hard, but I'm so glad I lasted 30 minutes. It feels great to return to an activity I really loved before I started all of my cancer treatments.

But on a separate note I have to complain about the state of the beach I went to. Forgive me that I don't know the name, but it is the beach where planes fly directly above when they're leaving LAX. Well, anyways there was trash all over the place. I couldn't believe the amount of liter. It really broke my heart to see people dumping their trash on something so beautiful, like the beach. I tired to pick up as much trash as I could, but there is still so much left over. I guess I'm just really disappointed with some people's lack of consideration, I don't understand it. (There, now you have my rant for the week!)
Danielle

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I couldn't resist the temptation to write about my appointment with my heart doctor tomorrow on this special HEART day (corny, I know). But really I wanted to write about tomorrow's appointment because I'll be receiving an update on the condition of my heart's ejection fraction. As I mentioned earlier, the adriamycin in the R-CHOP that I received during my chemotherapy lowered my ejection fraction (that's a mouthful). Your ejection fraction is the fraction of blood that is pumped out by your heart to the rest of your body. So tomorrow I will find out if my ejection fraction has decreased since the last time we checked it back in November. I will receive a heart echo tomorrow and meet with my doctor, Dr. Hamilton. I am really hoping that my ejection fraction has not decreased!! It is scary to think that I might have a weak heart. Wish me good luck.
Danielle

VIDEO:Training Across America

I now have an actual copy of my interview with Training Across America, so I thought I would put it up on my blog. Once again this is my interview with Sean Cook with Training Across America. Many thanks to Sean Cook who put this video together!

Danielle

My First Trim

This past Tuesday my new hair received its first trim! This day was very exciting for me because my hair had finally grown to the point that the baby fuzz needed to be trimmed off. When your hairs first grow back they are a very soft fuzz that many hair stylists call "baby fuzz." Sure we only took off a little, but hey, it's a step in the right direction. Thanks to Lori and Ashley I got rid of all that soft baby fuzz that crowded the ends of my new healthy hair. It was funny because I felt like I was a little kid going in for their first hair cut. However, I'm grateful there were no stickers or lollipops waiting for me at the end!

Danielle

Training Across America

In December I told you about my interview with Training Across America's Sean Cook. Sean and I talked about my fight against lymphoma, and has now just completed putting together our interview. I encourage you to check it out and tell me what you think.
Danielle
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_sHPAUiKhQ

VIDEO: Danielle's Update

In case you missed it on the KDLT News tonight, here is my video update:
Danielle

Complete Remission

Here is a picture of (from left to right) my mom, Dr. Pinter-Brown, me, and my dad at UCLA Medical Center on February 2, 2010.

I'm happy to write that I'm now in complete remission. Today I met with my oncologist, Dr. Pinter-Brown at UCLA Medical Center, and she says I look great. She checked for any lumps in my neck, jaw, under arms, and stomach, and found none! We also did a blood test and my platelets look normal. Plus, my anemia is improving. All of this as you can imagine was very welcomed news to my family and I. We were at the doctor's office for two and half hours, but after hearing the good news, the wait didn't seem to bother us as much.

However, more importantly this appointment gave me the opportunity to ask my doctor some important questions about my health and future. Before the appointment I wrote up a list of questions (I can't help but be a reporter!!) to ask Dr. Pinter-Brown. It was funny because my doctor was impressed by how thorough my questions were, she could tell I do this for a living! Here is the list of questions and my doctor's answers. I hope they are as helpful to you as myself.

1. Am I cured or in remission?
Right now I'm in "complete remission." This means they don't see any new cancer in my body, but I'm not yet cured. The definition of being cured is being cancer free for 5 consecutive years. The doctors haven't performed any scans on me yet, but they don't believe I have any new forms of cancer in my body. This is because they did a PET/CT scan right before I started my treatments and didn't find any new forms of cancer. Then during the actual treatments no new forms of cancer can develop, so now I should be cancer free. The real test will be my consecutive scans to see if any new forms of cancer develops in the time after my treatments.

2. Should I be taking any vitamins or supplements?
No, not necessary. Just make sure I eat healthy and get all my food groups. (But I feel like this is easier said than done!)

3. Are there certain foods or drinks I should avoid? No, just eat healthy. I now have no restrictions! (coffee here I come!!)

4. What type of exercise routine should I start? It important for me to get some regular exercise, but I need to slowly ease my body into working out again. I should not push my body to the point of exhaustion, but getting some exercise is a good thing.

5. When will I know if I will be able to have kids? Dr. Pinter-Brown thinks I should be able to have kids. The only thing that may happen is I might enter into menopause earlier than most women.

6. Do I have a greater risk of developing cancer again? Yes, especially other forms of lymphoma, and cancers to my head and neck. This chance increases as I get older, but the truth is everyone is at an increase chance of developing cancer as they age. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason why cancer develops, and all of us could or could not get it in our lifetime.

7. If I do develop cancer again, would I receive chemotherapy and radiation again? Yes. I would not receive the same type of chemotherapy, R-CHOP, but there are other forms of chemotherapy that the doctors could administer, heaven forbid I do develop cancer again.

8. What is the next step for me? Scans? Heart echo? Blood tests? The next step for me would be to have another PET/CT scan in 3 to 4 months. Dr. Pinter-Brown recommends I do the scan at UCLA. Then after the first scan I would do another one in 6 months. She doesn't recommend doing the scans too often because the x-ray beams are very powerful and could be damaging to my body, but the scans are important to make sure the cancer doesn't redevelop.
As far as my heart, I have to go back to my cardiologist for another heart stress test. Dr. Pinter-Brown wants to continue to monitor my ejection fraction to make sure it is not getting worst. Right now I have an appointment to meet with my cardiologist in the beginning of March, but I'm going to try to move it earlier, like the middle of February.
Receiving blood tests every 3 months will also be very important to monitor my health. Dr. Pinter-Brown recommends coming in every three months for a blood test to monitor my platelets and make sure nothing is out of the ordinary.

9. Will my heart return back to normal? No. Dr. Pinter-Brown says I can't rebuild my heart muscles. The adriamycin in R-CHOP is so powerful that it could continue to weaken my heart as time goes on (but we're hoping it doesn't). She seems to think we caught it early enough that it won't do too much damage to my heart. Plus, there are things I can do to make sure my ejection fraction doesn't get worst. For instance, make sure I don't smoke, develop high blood pressure, or become over weight. The problem with a below normal ejection fraction is it could lead to cognitive heart failure, and I don't want that. It was just surprising to me that I couldn't do anything to improve my heart muscles, I wish I could do something to help.

10. Is there any way I could check for a re-occurrence of my cancer myself? Signs? Symptoms? I just have to pay attention to my body, but I should not worry too much about it. If I recognize a lump or a swollen part of my throat or neck I should go to the doctor and get it checked out. Some other symptoms of lymphoma are: weight loss, Night sweats, and unexplained fevers.

11. If I haven't developed any new side effects now, will any other ones develop? No. The only thing is my heart could get worst and I'm at a greater risk of developing another form of lymphoma.

12. Which side effects are permanent? Possible decrease in saliva, but I have already notice that is improving, along with my dry mouth, my hair returning, and my fatigue beginning to diminish.

13. Should I be concerned about my ITP coming back again? No. Plus, when the doctors do the blood tests every three months they'll look at my platelets and monitor that too.

14. Should my future doctors look out for anything in particular? Not really anything in particular. I just need to tell them my medical history and they'll look out for any new forms of cancer.

15. How and when should I return back to work? I can return back to work, but I need to ease into it. My body has gone through a traumatic experience and it is important that I slowly return to my normal life. Actually my doctor recommends I start out part-time for the first few weeks and then work up to full time. But the good news is I have won the fight and I'm ready to move on!!
Danielle

Don't Laugh (Too Hard)

Here is a short clip of me trying to ski and my sister Brittany laughing! We're at Big Bear Mountain Resort. I'm putting this clip up for some comedy.

Danielle

Happy Birthday Brittany!

Thanks everyone for the great advice on my new hair. As of now I'm not really messing with it because it is still a little short, but I am excited to try out some new styles! I think there may be a consensus for me to spike my hair. So we shall see, it will be fun.

And talking about fun, yesterday was my sister Brittany's 22nd birthday! To celebrate her big day we went skiing at Big Bear Mountain Resort. I must admit I was a little nervous at first to get back on my skis after all of my cancer treatments, but everything went great. I made sure I didn't push my body too hard, but I did get to enjoy the runs. Sure I'm a little out of shape, but I lasted for a majority of the day! It is so exciting to now be able to skii, because just a few weeks ago I could have never been able to do that. Skiing and being active in general, like walking Riley on a daily basis, are good reminders for me that I am getting better and soon I will be back to my regular self- cancer free!

This was my first time skiing at Big Bear and also my first time back on my skis in a really long time, so I kept it simple. I kept to the easy trails, but still had a blast. Nothing beats having the wind in your face, sliding down a big mountain on two sticks! It actually was exhilarating at times and made me feel victorious over my cancer. A feeling of: "Look at me now cancer, you can't keep me down." What a great way to celebrate my sisters birthday!

On a separate note, tomorrow I am meeting with my cancer doctor for a check-up and radiation treatment review. This appointment will be my first time meeting with my cancer doctor since I completed my radiation treatments in January. I don't think I will be getting a PET/CT scan tomorrow, but there are some questions I want to go over with the doctor. One of them being: if I need to take certain vitamins? Also which side effects from my cancer treatments will be permanent? Am I at a greater risk for developing cancer again? How often will I need to come back for check-ups?

I'll make sure to tell everyone what I find out. Wish me good luck. Hopefully the traffic won't be too bad leaving Westwood, our appointment is at 3pm!!

Danielle