First rodeo

Around each bend is something new.

A few weeks ago, I thought I was starting to get the hang of how the cell counts in the blood work in relation to the cycles of chemotherapy and recovery between injections. The counts drop for a while after chemotherapy and then start climbing again during recovery.

Lately it seems the counts are running counter-intuitively. We started this first bone marrow transplant round after a pretty good recovery period that showed Tali was no longer neutropenic (i.e. ANC below 1,500). But her counts started dropping before the Friday and Saturday's injections were complete. Then the counts started rising after the injections before dropping on Monday.

Today there was a huge spike from yesterday's 400 ANC to 9,000 today. The explanation for many of these "anomalies" I'm told is the neupogen Talitha receives to stimulate her white blood cells.

My brain can no longer compute the trends...like the rider on the bull being whip-sawed left, right, up, down...shaken silly.

Sometimes, I feel I'm over thinking certain things while oblivious to weightier matters. Guess that's a bit like straining at the gnat while swallowing the camel.

Trying to do what's right and keep God's commandments can be like that, I think. You can be so afraid of doing something wrong and over think the do's and the don'ts to the point that you forget to DO what's right.

Maybe that's why Christ boiled it down to two simple rules: (1) Love God with all your heart, and (2) Love your neighbor as yourself. If we do those things, the rest kind of falls into place.

Perhaps this "first rodeo"--as people at the hospital call it--is shaking me up enough to learn to put first things first. Then whatever's left is either going to fit or be let go of.