Hello 2026!

The glorious skies were rewarded with a rainbow, including a hint of the San Gabriel Mountains. Altadena and Pasadena will rise again after the tragic Eaton fire. Resilience always wins!

Eight years ago, in 2018, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. I was so sick that when my oncologist examined me I was admitted to City of Hope that same day. People used to ask me, “how did you choose your ‘team’ to diagnose and help ‘cure’ you?”

My answer is: the “team” that admits me the same day they examine me is the “team” that I need as a patient. Although after seven rounds of chemo (relapsed after eight months), two failed bone marrow transplants, chronic graft vs host disease, removal of pre-cancers, multiple lymphoma recurrences, dental problems, cracked bone in my foot, bone marrow biopsies, multiple blood transfusions, pneumonia, and more dental problems, I ask my oncologist (he is my third doctor at City of Hope) why he still wants me as a patient. Apparently he uses me as a testament to the efficacy of Loncastuximab tesirine— some type of treatment that miraculously keeps me alive.

2025 brought more miracles: I became a grandmother! My granddaughter is six months old and of course she is smart, determined, happy and adorable! And I went to my son’s grad school graduation! Many more milestones made 2025 so joyous: birthdays, a wedding, a dual baby shower, and more that I cannot remember!

Yet, in between those wonderful events, there was despair, depression, sickness, hospitalization, and never ending pain and suffering.

The mental aspect of ceding control is the hardest. It ranges from needing help to the bathroom, having a caretaker pull my oxygen tank, watching me use a walker to feeling overwhelmed by my “return” to home order. Where is my immersible blender? Why does my linen closet have mis-matched sheets? Who mixed floor towels with the pool towels? The meltdown transpires when I discover we have three coffee mugs left.

I have experienced the greatest happiness and the deepest anguish—sometimes in the same day.

That is the essence of our human existence.

However, gratitude helps keep us alive.

So, I managed to squeeze out another year.

Cheers to twenty-twenty-six!