Then This...Thursday

Then this...Thursday 

My weekly update. 

Tahoe btw was awesome. It was so great to see & spend time with my wonderful in laws. And to get to spend time together enjoying the beautiful mountains, being refreshed by the clean mountain air, the beautiful scenery and the crisp, clear lake water was good for the soul!! We went “truckin’ down the Truckee” River (more of a fun float than white water rafting) with our black lab, Rifle (don’t be fooled by his name- he’s actually more like the “bald guy named Curly”) at the helm, ready to “chase & pursue” all the ducks (& even the geese!) along the way...even though he could care less about hunting or retrieving anything normally. I think he thought he actually had a chance to get close to these water foul lugging his 80 lb body through the water (he doesn’t even swim in our pool at home). A beautiful day complete with a picnic lunch, water fights, and tunes to sweeten the ride! Another day we spent at Donner Lake where we swam, jumped in on the rope swing, kayaked and sailed my father-in-laws Hobie Cat (no diving for crawdads this year). Rifle won’t be left behind on shore when that’s sailing away- he’ll swim out til we let him on😊. We also had a blast riding some mountain trails and along the river on our bikes. Terrific times in Tahoe as always!!

I felt pretty good all week. Maybe not my normal energy level but no complaints and no symptoms of sickness PTL! And this morning I headed in for my 4th weekly dose of Taxol. My port was accessed (I remembered the numbing cream PTL!) and labs drawn. Another nurse brought the results over to my nurse with a “not so good” look on her face. My nurse confirmed that look and told me I probably wasn’t getting my infusion with those results. My WBCs were down again from last week but even more concerning was how low my neutrophils(ANC) were. This indicates the number of new blood cells the bone marrow is producing. She brought the results across the hall to the oncologist’s desk & awaited his response. To her surprise he gave her the go-ahead. So we proceeded as planned with the cell-destroying toxin and off I went. I knew my body needed some rest to gear up for the fight so I decided to lay down...& slept/rested til almost 5 (about 4 hours)! 

This morning I headed back for my bone marrow booster shot. And then again Monday I’ll go for another one. And then Wednesday I’ll go in for bloodwork to see how well the boosters boosted my blood cell building. If not enough I’ll get another one before my 5th beating next Thursday. I’ll admit it felt a little overwhelming and I even felt guilty/frustrated with myself wondering if I hadn’t done enough proactively (enough healthy eating, vitamins, essential oils, etc) to help prevent this. How I need to set my mind on unchanging truth...

BUT GOD is the one who’s really in control of every cell in my body. Every day of my life, from the first to the last, was known by my Creator before I was born (Psalm 139), with a plan & a purpose (Jeremiah 29:11) for His glory & my good (in His eternal economy). Yes I’m trusting the treatment of my cancer to the knowledge of doctors through much study (of the human body that God has SO fearfully and wonderfully made, including brilliant brains to understand some of the intricacies of how it works!) and doing what I can strengthen & support my body during the process. But ultimately despite what I do or what’s done to me, I can rest secure knowing my earthly days and eternal destiny are in the hands of an all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God! Amen! And on that thought good night, sleep tight!