When we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas, I’m always reminded that birth brings a new life and new beginning. A week later comes the New Year, also a time of new beginnings. Tradition makes us think of what our resolutions should be as the New Year begins. We think of things we want to change or improve; and, most often, we are starting over on resolutions of things that we’ve tried to change or improve previously. In spite of my best efforts at resolutions, I’m always reminded that, generally, my efforts are futile without the help and strength my faith in God provides.
On a lighter note, most of our resolutions are based on the activities of the previous 6 weeks that begin with Thanksgiving and end with New Year’s; what I like to call the “eating season”! Born out of this is the most common resolution made by all – to lose weight and exercise more, and eat healthier foods in the coming year.
We had a very enjoyable Christmas and have certainly “eaten our way” through the holidays! I felt very blessed to have the energy I needed to enjoy having our family here on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and to be able to do a lot of the cooking and preparation, with the help of my daughters. One of my best memories is snoozing in the rocker/recliner after Christmas dinner with my grandson, Ty, asleep on my shoulder.
This week’s lab reports showed some improvement in my blood counts – back to where they were two weeks ago, but still not adequate to begin treatment again. There is slight improvement in my feet. The numbness seems to have lessened and tends to come and go in its severity. I think this is a good sign that the nerves are trying to recover. I have been in touch with my nurse at Stanford each week and my oncologist will return next Thursday, the day of my next blood test. My nurse is hopeful I will be ready to begin treatment again at that time; however, my dosage will be lowered. Once the decision is made to move forward again with treatment, it will take almost a week to receive my next prescription and actually get started again. At that point my treatment will have been suspended for 4 weeks.
Although it has been frustrating to have my treatment suspended so quickly, I am grateful for the opportunity it gave me to have more energy and be able to really enjoy the holidays.
We continue to trust the Lord for healing and health, and with the roadblocks that continue to plague my attempts at treatment. We continue to praise Him that I have remained healthy in spite of the low blood counts that have left me very susceptible to illness and infection.
