Gratitude and Joy

      

     Aside from the few months following multiple myeloma diagnosis, the past few weeks have easily been some of the most difficult that we have faced.   Many tears have been shed and we've both felt pushed to the brink of exhaustion.  

       This week luckily has been a little easier.   Chris finished up his 96+ hours of chemo on Sunday night and we could have come home, but there wasn't anyone around to be able to make that happen.   He pushed to make it happen on Monday morning and we got home that afternoon.   Sleeping in your own bed (not being awoken numerous times throughout the night) is a powerful healing tool.   

     We went back to "the mothership" on Wednesday for more chemo.   Because this chemo attacks all fast growing cells, which include good and bad cells they are watching his red and white blood cells.   They were surprised that they hadn't "bottomed out" already and anticipate that it will happen soon.   He may need blood or platelets and he's already been given separate shots of neupogen to encourage white blood cells.    They want to monitor him carefully, which we appreciate, but to them that means there at the clinic and not at the satellite location in South Jordan.   He was exhausted from the trip up that day, so we pushed back and were able to arrange for the next visit and several of his daily visits this coming week to be in South Jordan.   

    I recently posted about spring flowers on Facebook and asked everyone what their favorite flower or season was.   It was so fun to read everyone's comments.   My aunt commented "I love them all as the variety of each flower makes the other flowers more beautiful."   The same can be said of friends and family, each one unique but bringing their own beauty to the lives of those around them.   

   We are so grateful to all of those who have helped to lighten our load these past few weeks.   It is often the text's, cards and thoughtful gestures that brings joy and gratitude.   We are very blessed to have friends and family reaching out helping to lighten our load and let us know we aren't alone.   

    Another thing to be grateful for... we know it's working.  The egg size mass on his upper abdomen which we named his "turkey timer" has slowly been melting.   It's now  harder to find, flatter and likely about the size of a small almond.   We are confident that his next PET scan,  sometime in the next couple weeks, will show that the others have also shrunk.