What Friends Are For

It is always nice to have great neighbors. But in my case I also have a neighbor that is a dear friend. She’s always working on keeping me fed. Tonight she brought over the most wonderful rice and meat dish. It was very good. I ate as much as I could and have safely stored the rest for later. Thanks so much Peg for taking care of me. You are the best and I feel honored to call you “friend”.

Having said that, I’m struggling to keep from losing any more weight. I just figured it out, and I’ve lost 33% (that’s 1/3) of my total body weight in the last eight months. I know that I cannot continue to do that. So in addition to regular meals, I’ve just started working on using Boost (which is like Ensure) and has extra calories to it's liquid diet. What has been so hard for me during this entire time is that sometimes things taste good and sometimes they don’t. So what might work one day won’t sound good at all the next. It’s very frustrating.

Tomorrow I have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Rege, my Radiation Oncologist. We’ll discuss the X-rays from last week as well as the bone scan taken yesterday and the blood work from today. It will be nice if we can actually develop a plan to get me moving in the right direction.

I got a call a couple hours ago and my blood work shows that my platelet count is again low, and I will probably get two weeks off between chemo treatments this month too. I guess this is actually very common with Gemzar (the type of chemo I’m taking). In fact, the doctor was kind of surprised that I had been progressing so well through all of the treatments. But now my body is acting “normal” and is protesting all of this chemo. Which once again explains my constant need to sleep all of the time. I’ll find out tomorrow for sure if I really get the additional week off.


Today was an absolutely glorious day, with lots of sunshine. Before I left the house, I turned the six mares out in the pasture to run and play and just be horses. Oh my, did they ever have a blast. Just like little kids. They all took turns laying down and rolling in the grass. You just had a sense of their saying “ooooh and aaahhh”. I mean, after being cooped up in a 60 x 80 foot muddy arena for most of winter, wouldn’t you like to get out onto some dry ground and roll. Really, they acted just like dogs. A few more days of that kind of behavior, and I’ll be ready to ride for a little while. But the weather could turn back to rain in a day or two, which will delay the riding. At least we aren’t getting all of the snow - - - like the “other” Washington.

When life is good for the animals, I know that it cannot help but be good for me. There are no pity parties with animals involved. They only see things in the here and now – and if that’s good enough for them, it is also good enough for me.

Horses (oh yes, dogs) and good friends. Life is good. God is good. I will continue to focus on the here and now.