If you ever get a chance to travel to Southeast Asia, I highly recommend taking some time in Luang Prabang. My first journey there was stifled by my then unknown cancer, which made my visit there in 2020 all the more important. Covid related - this would be the first time I would have my temperature taken when entering a country. Health related - I had my visit dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday. Oh...and a little walk down memory lane to my unexpected week visiting Vietnam with a (now) friend.

I arrived in Siem Reap January 20, 2020 and would stay until February 10th. During that time was the first time I had heard of Covid (obviously it wouldn't be the last.) I watched the Super Bowl while I was in Cambodia....so I spend part of this episode going down a football related memory lane through my life.

Recorded on February 4, 2021 - World Cancer Day, I look back on my 2020 trip to Chiang Mai. I started to regain my independence on this trip, and for the first time found hope that my life may continue to carry on.

2020: After I got over my jetlag, and had my sense of travel back, I flew 90 minutes north in Chiang Rai. 2021: I am learning Spanish in an attempt to carry on with life.

As we move into 2021 and season 2 of Carry On with Kelley, I am going to treat this season a little differently. I will spend part of each episode talking about where I was last year (2020) during this time period - where I was mentally, physically and globally. And I want to spend some time each week talking about what I am doing today (2021) to continue to carry on. Join me, as I carry on...

As 2020 winds down, I discuss my 2020 wins. And outline where I see 2021 going for my life. Join me as I carry on.

I love when Facebook Memories show up. They take me back to a time in life when the world was open. Or remind me of how far I've come. On this day in 2017, I was in Bangkok getting my passport renewed. And in 2018, Reggie was visiting from Australia. These are my memories....

I've been thinking a lot about Cambodia lately. The memories are so lively and colorful. I hold that year so close to my heart for it changed me. It changed my core, as few things do. Last week on The Amazing Race, the teams raced through Siem Reap and my heart exploded watching the episode. I hope you enjoy my love letter to some of the people I met while I was living in Cambodia.

November was a month of doctor's appointments. Not because anything was "off" but because all of my follow up schedules fell on the same month. My monthly Oncologist appointment. A 6 month check-up with my Hematologist. A surgical follow up with my neurosurgeon. X-rays. Scans. Regular bloodwork. And a round of immunizations. Just a normal month for a cancer patient.

Fall 2019 - as I recovered physically from my stem cell transplant, mentally I crashed. Enter "J", my therapist. As part of a research study through The University of Pittsburgh, we talk each week. She has helped me, mentally, maneuver through my grief as I maneuver through this world.