It's only a dance step

Monday morning, January 25th, I was at the oncologists office with my mom. She was getting her blood drawn so they could check and see if her numbers were where they needed to be in order to get her chemo treatment. I saw this quote printed on regular old copy paper, taped to the wall of the lab room. "An optimist is someone who views one step back as a dance step." I don't recall who that quote was by or even if it is correct, but it was something to that effect. I loved it and thought of all places, this was an appropriate place for that quote. Many people who go there probably feel like they take many steps back in their recovery. Some never move forward. So far mom has done extremely well with her chemo. She has a pretty positive attitude, support from her family, many prayers offered in her behalf and a few extra therapies to 0ff-set the damaging side effects of chemo. We are hoping and praying that these things will all work to her good and give her an edge over the side effects. Yesterday her white blood cell count was up, but her red blood cell count was down - it seems like there is always a trade-off. She got a shot to raise her red blood cell count and was able to continue with her chemo. She didn't much like the shot, it stung a bit, but the sting left as soon as the shot was over. Dad left to go run errands, I stuck around for a while, but mom looked tired so I left for a while so she could rest. However, that did not happen. When I came back I noticed that mom  had had a nosebleed while I was gone. She was, however, very tidy and didn't get any blood on her clothes. That would be something very important to mom - if you're going to bleed, be tidy about it! I was feeling horribly guilty that I had left her and so was dad, but the nurses were taking good care of her. Of course, the nose bleed lowered her blood sugar levels so she had to have a glass of juice with a granola bar, a rare treat for her as she is also diabetic. She finished up her treatment and we ended up back at my brother's house where mom and dad stay every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. It is a very convenient and peaceful place for them to be while we see how mom handles each of those chemo treatments. Three down, 21 to go. Remember mom, it's only a dance step!!!