Counting blessings

Maranda completed her MRI today. It was an hour wait before we got started and then it took an hour to complete her scans. She was anxious, but she did exceedingly well in the traditional machine (the Open MRI machine she was supposed to be in is only available on Thursdays...ya think they would tell you that when you call to schedule an appt for an open MRI). I'll be dropping the results off this week with the doctor and they can let us know if there is anything else we have to deal with!! Maranda is scheduled for her brace fitting this Thursday.

Lisa is doing better. She's much perkier and has only thrown up once in the past two days. She has been eating more as well...yeah! We're still giving her hydration just to be safe. She goes Monday for her bloodwork. Hopefully her counts will be good...she's a bit more tired than usual which usually means her hemoglobin is down...we'll see.

Starting this Thursday and thru the following week, Lisa is scheduled for a series of scans. These scans will determine how the cancer is responding to chemo and if any of her tumors can be removed with surgery. If surgery is possible, it will happen before the next chemo....so probably before Halloween. Have no idea what this entails...not sure how many tumors there are, nor how many surgeries would be required...whether they would do one surgery or many....this is what the scans will help determine.

After surgery, she would have approx 2 weeks to recover before chemo 6. Four to five weeks after chemo 6, will be a "big" chemo followed by Bone Marrow Transplant and she would be inpatient for at least 3 weeks. The "big" chemo involves some different options to choose from based on her response to prior treatment and what the doctors feel is best based on current clinical studies (statistically this has always been a tough cancer to beat, so these studies offer us the latest and best options)

Once "big" chemo/bone marrow transplant is done and she has had time to recover, she will have radiation treatment. Not sure at this point how many doses of radiation would occur...that's a bridge we will cross as we get closer given all the elements that can go awry between now and then.

I was just thinking the other day how quickly things can change and how those changes impact the "blessings" you count. If you had asked me a year ago what I thought I would be doing at this time, I probably would have said working hard at my job, practicing yoga, perhaps becoming a Master Gardener, maybe getting my Professional Organizing dream off the ground. My blessings would have been my husband, kids, health, financial security.

I would have never thought to answer dealing with cancer and never would I have found a way to see it as a blessing. Cancer---blessing---that's crazy. But, the other day I realized that because of the cancer I am able to spend more time with Lisa. I know not all of it good times, not all if it puke-free, but it is more time than if she was healthy and still in daycare. Cancer has also bonded many family, friends and people in our community who love and support us. Cancer has reinforced our belief that even in hard economic times, there are good companies and great bosses who stand behind you. With all the time we have spent at Motts, I realize how lucky we are...there are a LOT more things that we could be dealing with. So I count my blessings each day...family, friends, community, jobs, food, income....we are happy and content...our kids are up, running around, can communicate, feed themselves, dress themselves. I can feed and dress myself! . Every day, I try to remind myself that life is a blessing and it's important to appreciate that day, because once it is gone, you can never get it back. Life is good, but it is precious and finite.

So once again, I pray that God helps me to live today as if it were my last, because you never know, it just might be.