10/27/2024
Wow! So much has happened since our Below Deck Sailing Yacht experience two years ago!
Since June 2022, my husband John and I sold everything we owned, including our home, and my baby grand piano, all of our furniture, and so much more! We got our D7 visas for Portugal, bought an apartment there! Beginning in January of 2023, we moved ourselves, and our two fur babies, Thor and Stormy, then we bought a second apartment, and moved AGAIN!
In November 2023, both Thor and I were diagnosed with cancer on the same day. His was a terminal lymphoma, and we had to say goodbye to him six weeks later. Mine was diagnosed as Multiple Myeloma, an incurable blood cancer that attacks the ribs and spine. I found out that I had lesions on both areas, and fractures in my spine, as well as calcium leaching into my bloodstream. I began weekly chemotherapy in December 2023, through August 2024, which was extremely painful and as you can imagine, quite challenging.
I’m waiting to begin a more aggressive form of chemo, which will hopefully help me get into remission, so I can have a STEM cell harvest and transplant in the beginning of 2025.
After some initial “mortality moments”, I persevered through it all, and have a very good prognosis! YAY!
Having had a break from chemo, we were able to take a wonderful cruise from Athens, to Barcelona with some amazing friends. I’m going to be chronicling in more detail, this amazing Journey Through Time with me, and my awesome husband, John, so stay tuned for more adventures and photos!
Much love,
Madison
