After a slow start, the vaccine campaign in France was supposed to speed up. Monday January 18th was the first day when people older that 75 and “at risk people” were supposed to start to receive vaccines. The least we can say is that it has been a difficult task to register to have appointments to get the vaccine… After just a few days, there were so many people interested in getting it that the schedule was full for at least two weeks… It was mainly due to the limited number of doses available…

As “an old collaborator” with the Curie Institute, I was offered the possibility to be vaccinated. I was really happy, until the day before the “day” when I got an email informing me that all the appointments for friday 22nd have been canceled: no vaccines available :-(!

What could I do? Of course, I did not register to other places, as “I was sure” to get the vaccine from my working place… I was left without any possibility to be vaccinated before several weeks, this being optimistic! I was crying…

After discussing with an Italian doctor who worked at Saint Antoine at the time I had the stem cells transplant, she suggested that I might try to contact people at Saint Antoine to ask them if they had any idea “to save me again”… I contacted my best friend at Saint Antoine, i.e. my fantastic graft doctor, who registered me to be vaccinated at the hospital at the end of the second week of February. Again, she saved me! How could I thank her… maybe some chocolates ;-)!

But, 3 days before the scheduled appointment, I got a phone call: appointment is canceled, no vaccine available… I might be contacted again when the vaccines delivery will resume: bad luck. But I stay confident that at some point, I will get it…maybe for the 5th anniversary of my stem cells graft in June. I keep optimistic. I trust my graft doctor.

Last week, I took the chance to contact people at Curie Institute to check if there was any possibility to have the vaccine at Curie. I got an answer, not too optimistic, that I could show up at the Curie Hospital to check if there were some extra doses of Pfizer RNA vaccine left after all the scheduled people, nurses and doctors, had received the shot. The answer was yes, so that I had my first shot of Pfizer vaccine yesterday! So happy!

In three to four weeks, I will need to find a place where I could get the second shot…Saint Antoine hospital or Curie hospital?

I first contacted people at Curie, but after a few days I got a negative answer: no Pfizer vaccine would be available…

I turned back to Saint Antoine, my last chance. After a short discussion (usually they don’t like too much doing only the second shot), I got a positive answer: yes! Saint Antoine hospital doctors are always there when I need them. Love them! The appointment was for tuesday march 23, then wednesday 24th….hope it will work…

Then, unexpectedly, I got an email last week from Curie, with the news: I might get the second shot on Friday 19th. I applied the precept: mieux vaut tenir que courir (half a loaf is better than no bread) and went to curie for the second shot! So now I am fully vaccinated!

In two weeks, I will go to the Saint Antoine Hospital to have the serology to check for the quality of the immune response…

Two weeks ago, I visited the Saint Antoine hospital to have a blood analysis. It was mainly for a serologic analysis of the antibodies against SARS-Cov2. A few days later, I got the results from my kind graft doctor: high level of antibodies detected! Yes! As stated out by my wonderful graft doctor in her mail, it is ” a very good news :-)”!

Before getting the results, I was not 100% confident as I had read in the scientific literature that the response to the RNA vaccine in people who had hematopoietic stem cells transplant was not always optimal… Of course, I forgot that I am “in a special situation”: I am old but my stem cells are young since my donor was a very young lady :-)!

A next step could be to follow the evolution with time of the antibodies … So to be continued!

Love you all!

To be continued…

During the two lockdowns we have had so fare in Spring and Fall of 2020, I had to find some occupation to keep my hands busy and try not to think to often of the pandemic developing around us… I started to make various “pastries”, but mainly “chouquettes” at first as they are my favorite!

It was also time for carrots cakes with cranberries and mapple sirup, apricots “clafoutis”…

I used a ” flowers pots” approach to make small bread loafs…not a great success I should say ;-)!

Then came banana bread, chouquettes, small almond-flavored and coconut-flavored”cookies” using an alsatian recipe…

Then came scones, cheese gougers, apricot jam…

In between the two lockdowns, it was time for magdalens, financial cakes… During this time, in August, my great son was visiting. I made magdalens and financial cakes using applesauce instead of sugar… better be creative :-)!

Cherries clafoutis, chouquettes, almond-flavored cookies, magdalens, coconut-flavored cookies, pistachio-flavored cookies…

During the second lockdown, it was near Christmas: it was the time for “bredeles”, the alsatian cookies typical of this period of the year…

more…

To celebrate “the brexit” more cranberries scones and my favorite the chouquettes!

Christmas chouquettes and first try to make “hard” chocolate chips cookies…not bad ;-)!

Greetings from Bures-France! We are still in lockdown…

Beside the “special medical events” I had to deal with over the 4 last years (hematopoietic stem cells graft, carcinomas), as an “aging person” I have now a classical problem: to deal with the cataract!A week ago, I had the first surgery, on the left eye. I was scared, although it went well…

The second surgery took place on monday, december 7th…. I was scared as hell , although it was not too new :-(! Like for the first surgery, I slept during the whole time, so I have no memory of what happened after I got an injection of some kind of “relaxing” chemical :-)!

The best thing is that from now on I might not need anymore prescription glasses! Big change (I had them for 52 years!).

I am now “an enhanced human”, being a chimera woman/man with new eyes :-)!

I am now wondering what kind of improvement I should consider. Any suggestions?

Each time I have to. deal with events related to my health, I am always afraid that the fantastic job made at the St Antoine Hospital by the “stem cells graft team” and in particular my kind graft doctor, might be compromised…. Stupid I know ;-)!

Story will be continued in a few days…

This week, I had an appointment with the ophtamologist to check if everything was OK. I got the “official” news that from now on I will be googles free! Not sure people will recognize me :-)!

With love…

For the ones not aware of the french slang, “mirettes” means eyes :-)!

We are already two weeks in the second lockdown.

Of course, it is kind of hard to start all over again what we experienced in the spring

During the first lockdown, we tried to “do something” fun to share with our family and friends. We decided that on each sunday, we would dress in special outfits. We used what we had in our drawer as we could not go shopping. for non essential goods…. Here are the results…

1. Dressing up to go out for a date

2. Heading for the beach

3. Working as garbage collectors

4. Working in the garden

5. Cooking pastries and cakes (we bought the chef hat during the first escape after the end of the lockdown)

6. Going for a hike…at the back of our garden

We thought that number 6 would be the last disguise: wrong :-(! Two weeks ago lockdown number 2 started… We racked one’s brains to start all over again the same game. Here are numbers 7 and 8 and 9 and 10.. and 11 and 12!

7. Preparing to go out for Christmas. You will notice that we have masks, a big difference with episode 1 :-)!

8. On our way to Hawaii… with new masks ;-)!

9. Being Amishs…

10. Exchanging clothes 🙂

11. Canadian loggers…

12. 5th week of lockdown in the second round… beginning of depression :-)!

13. Netflix series “Lockdown” season 2, last episode….

Sunday December the 20th: end of the second lockdown….. We decided to go on vacation:

To be continued…with the 3rd lockdown coming in mid-january!

Greetings from Bures-France! We are already in our 5th day of the new lockdown, and it feels like weeks… The weather does not help: rainy, windy and cold! The lockdown season one was much better: sunny and warm! As we are always saying in France: c’était mieux avant (it was much better in the past) :-)!

Right now, the situation looks pretty bad, with our friend the virus running freely everywhere around… Better stay home when possible! As an old retired person, it is easy to follow the rules, but for people with children and/or working it is more complicated, stressful. Every day, I am thinking of people working in the hospitals, family relatives, my great graft doctor, my dermatologist… I hope they will go through all this mess untouched…

The fall is now there, with leaves falling down in my garden…It keeps me busy and I am doing some physical exercise!

Soon, it will be “a surgery season” for me, as I need to fix some cataract problems. First eye will be at the end of this month, second one early december: kind of afraid of this, more than when I had the stem cells graft… yes, hard to believe…

Anyway, I am so happy to be alive. because of the people at Saint Antoine, and my graft doctor, my family, my friends, my graft donor: you are so precious ! With love :-)!

Hello everybody!

Two weeks ago I had an appointment with my dermatologist at Tenon hospitaL She first checked the left scar, after she removed a previous carcinoma at the back of the head: it was perfect! Then she gave me the reults of the biopsy she did on a suspected “thing” on the left temple: of course it was a new carcinoma, no surprise! After weighing out the options to remove it, dynamic phototherapy or direct surgery, she opted for the phototherapy. Her main concern, if the surgery was performed, was that it could be difficult to close the wound as there is little extra skin to pull there…

Since the results using phototherapy have not been great before (the carcinoma disappeared but made a come back a few months later), she decided that we should try to have two runs of phototherapy instead of one. So, I had the first run last monday and will have the second one on thursday (fingers crossed but I have little hope).

In between the two appointments, our government declared first a curfew, then yesterday a lockdown. In the Tenon hospital, the services have been moved to give room to the covid-related patients…chaotic… Just hoping that the people working in hospitals will go through those difficults time with as little as little possible losts.

At the end of next january, I will meet the dermatologist to see if the phototherapy was effective or not… If not, back to surgery!

My main concern is that if they keep removing skin everywhere on the face and head, I might end up being transformed as for famous cases seen in the show business…

Of course, after my appointment at Tenon, I payed a visit to the chapel, where my good friend Saint Antoine was waiting for me ;-)!

Up to now, Saint Antoine has done a great job to protect me…well of course if I am OK it is more because of the great team at Saint Antoine hospital , and in particular my kind graft doctor :-)!

During those difficult times, where our little friend the virus is flying around, I just have a hope: to meet you all again in a few months, family members, doctors at Saint Antoine and Tenon, friends from all over the world (i will not meet my stem cells donor but she is always with me ;-)!). I love you all!

September has been an “hospital” month.

It started with a regular visit to my kind graft doctor at Saint Antoine Hospital. She gave the results of the blood analysis: all numbers are “perfect”! (Leucocytes: 4850/mm3; Hemoglobine: 14.3 g/ dl; platelets: 216G/l)

It was good to talk with her since I did not meet her since march. We talked about “the covid” and she pointed out that the lockdown was not new for me as I had a previous experience during my stem cells graft :-)! I am still in full cytological and molecular remission :-)! I will meet her again in 6 months…

Last week, I had an appointment in Dermatology at Tenon Hospital. It was a “surgery ” visit, as I had another carcinoma at the. bottom of the skull, which needed to be removed. Everything went well, but it took more time than expected. The problem was linked to closing the wound, which was kind of large. The doctor and the helping nurse had to pull hard on the suture to close the scar….

It was the second time I had a kind of “plastic surgery”, so I was looking forward for a removal of some winkles to look younger. I even dreamed of a real modification and improvement of my face. So I came with two photos, one of Robert Redford, one of Georges Clooney and asked my doctor to choose the one she liked the most…

I ended up with Robert Redford’s face…the old version 😦

Next time I will try to be more convincing…. because there will be a next time! My doctor discovered a new “carcinoma” on the left temple, and performed a biopsy… results in a few weeks (in fact she already knows the answer but want to be sure). Of course, I have to see nurses regurlary so that they can take care of the scar. According to them, the doctor did a great job and the wound is healing nicely…

It is not the end of my health related appointments: at the end of november I will have a cataract surgery for the right eye, then two weeks later for the left eye… I am scared…

But I am also “scarred” ah ah!

I would like to thank people at Saint Antoine and in particular my kind graft doctor, the doctor at Tenon, my family, my friends and my stem cells donor: I can enjoy life because of them! I love you all!

/

Same time last year, we were in Ontario-Canada: our daughter was pregnant and it was almost time for her baby to arrive…

One year later, because of our friend the coronavirus, no travel to Canada was possible without a 14 days quarantine on arrival to Toronto.

So we spent our vacations in France! We first went to visit again “le Château de Chambord”, just for a week-end.

At the end of June, we visited “L’Ile d’Yeu” in the Atlantic ocean, of the cost of Vendée.

On the way back home, we stopped by “the Abbaye de Fontevraud”.

At the end of July, we visited “les Hautes Vosges”.

Beside traveling, I have been able to build a small vegetables garden…

This summer was my 4th summer after the stem cells graft in June 2016! People at Saint Antoine Hospital Department of Hematology did a fantastic job, and in particular my kind graft doctor, who has always been there to help me during the difficult times. I don’t forget my stem cells donor, and my beautiful family too! I love you all!

I have had a long love story with  carcinomas on the head. It started years ago with one on the forehead, which was removed by surgery. It was great since, as a consequence, I lost a few wrinkles :-)!

Then, during the “stem cells graft event” in 2016, after having my hair shaved, doctors discovered that I had another carcinoma on the left temple. The year after, I was treated at Tenon hospital first with a cream, Aldara, but it did not work. Then it was photodynamic phototherapy, which did not work either. It ended up with another surgery: again I lost other wrinkles!

Last year, during a routine checkup in  the Dermatology Department in Tenon Hospital, my doctor found a new carcinoma at the back of the head, on the left. After treating it first with Aldara cream, then liquid nitrogen, it disappeared for some time… and then came back! Dynamic phototherapy once more had an effect… until two weeks ago. During an appointment at Tenon, my doctor discovered that it was back. I got the biopsy results a few days ago: to get ride of it I will need another surgery… The bad side is that because of the location of this carcinoma, no wrinkles will be removed, so no rejuvenation is expected:-)! Surgery is scheduled for the end of September…

I have been lucky to meet wonderful people, both at Saint Antoine hospital (in particular my graft doctor ;-)), and at Tenon hospital.  Wathever they suggest, I know that they are making the right choice for my well being. I love them all!

Take care everybody!

With love!

Doing some sweets…

Soon it is will be the 5th anniversary of my hematopoietic stem cells transplant. Five years already! Hard to believe!

I would like to warmly thank the fantastic team who saved my life: all the people in the Department of Hematology at Saint Antoine Hospital and in particular my graft doctor (I will never forget her). I would like also to thank “Marie”, the nurse who actually performed “the graft”: it was her first time, and for me too! I wonder where I would be without the gift of stem cells from my young donor: I will never meet her, which is kind of sade, but I know the rules… I had also the chance to have my big family and my friends around me: even while “confined” I had visit every day from Jaja and others…

I really really love you all :-)!

The best way “to celebrate” this anniversary is to put together photos, from “before” to “now”.

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

“The mask” with a Saint Antoine on it: the best protective device against covid you can think of :-)!

2021

I love you all !