Dry Bones, Come to Life

Well no wonder my bones have been aching! Instead of the usual pathetic 300-600 white blood cells in my 1-week-post-chemo blood count, today they have exploded to an unimaginably high 27,600 cells. Not only is that massively higher than usual, it's way higher than even my healthy rates (which seem to kick up to around 8,000 by the time I'm ready for another chemo treatment). This seems to indicate that Taxol (the chemo drug I'll be on for my final four treatments. starting last week) isn't nearly as brutal on my white and red counts as the chemo drugs used in the first four treatments.

They'll be able to cut my bone marrow booster dosage in half next week. In the meantime, when my legs, hips and shoulder bones ache I can dip into my post-surgery pain killers to dull the ache. My physicians assistant assures me I won't become a drug addict, just happier and more rested.

The other good thing about Taxol is it didn't give me any headaches the day of chemo. The chemo fog hit as usual, or maybe harder, the third, fourth and fifth day after chemo. It probably felt worse because I had to spend those days sorting through health insurance policies for Dennis and the kids. It would have been mind numbing work on a normal day, but definitely was a mind over matter task for my chemo brain. It got done anyway and time will tell whether the decisions I made "in the fog" had God's light guiding them; I'm trusting so.

I did experience some Taxol-related neuropathy that may get worse as I go through more treatments. The Taxol damages the nerve endings in feet and hands, making them feel numb or tingly. I noticed that the bottoms of my feet felt slightly numb when I woke up on Saturday. I'll need to be careful about not going barefoot outdoors and watching that I don't loose my balance. Hopefully it won't get much worse and regardless, it will go away once the chemo is finished.

My energy level is returning. On Sunday afternoon, we had a wonderful but draining trip to Estes Park to visit friends. Monday I was able to have a long, laugh-filled B&B lunch with Sarah and Lynda. And Wednesday I'll be in an all-day school board meeting/planning workshop -- so energy is a wonderful thing!

The hand of the LORD was upon me,

and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley;

it was full of bones.

He led me back and forth among them,

and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley,

bones that were very dry.

He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

enter you, and you will come to life.

Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them,

Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!

This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones:

I will make breath

I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you

and cover you with skin;

I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.

Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

Ezekiel 37:1-6