September 9, 2006
Today I am feeling much better – the nausea was gone quite suddenly; after viewing food with a lackluster eye for ten days, I woke up in the morning and found myself thinking about recipes and good things to eat. Now I just have five more days of the Neupogen injections and life will be back to full remission mode once more. The other unpleasant side effects have also receded and I am again thankful and filled with good cheer. The words of encouragement sent my way were a great help. I met an acquaintance yesterday who shared her story of breaking ribs and the subsequent lengthy healing process. . . all happening outside of my awareness. It occurred to me that almost every person I meet in each day likely has a burden of some weight being carried behind the “Fine, thank you” response given to the “Hello, how are you”. For me, it is so very fortunate that others come forward to provide the strength of community love and care.
Quiet rains came today. So often, the moisture over our part of Nebraska must be wrenched out of the clouds by electricity and winds and violent contentions in the skies, but the recent gifts of water have come sedately falling straight down. It seems as though nothing can rejoice more greatly than the plants and earth accepting the rain – the scents are rich and wonderful and the drops of moisture resting on each leaf and flower shine even without the encouragement of sunlight. A reminder that this isn’t quite paradise is the presence of many mosquitoes waiting for lunch, dinner, whatever. One always wonders how these insects slipped into the creation sequence. Their numbers appear to be greatest around the bird feeders so I suppose they are taking advantage of the ready supply of warm blood that flies in.