698.8

Yesterday a nurse called from Dr. Boyd's office. She sounded apologetic as she told me the results of Monday's blood test (the CA 125--tumor marker). "It was 698.8," she said sadly. "Oh, great!" I replied. "Really?" she asked. Then I reviewed my history with that test, and suddenly she understood my optimism. Pre-surgery it was 8,445. On January 10th it was about 4,000. January 31 it was 2275. And this week it's 698.8! That is definitely moving in the right direction, and I'm thankful.

There's a lesson there. Often I look at situations or individuals and I see how bad they look. (After all, 698.8 is still a very high number, compared to a normal 35 or less.) If we don't know how far those difficult situations or individuals have already come, we can easily give up on them. But if we know the history, if we can appreciate how much progress has already been made, we can be both thankful for the past and hopeful for the future.

Yesterday (day 3 after chemo) turned out to be a definite resting day. My heartbeat has slowed somewhat this morning, but at the moment it feels liketoday will be another resting day. That's ok. I just read in my daily devotional book: Faith adds its "Amen" to God's "Yes." If God has another quiet day planned for me, I can say "Amen" to that.

One of the things I don't like about these resting days is that I simply have no appetite for reading. Imagine! So I'm always thankful when a book calls to me again--maybe tomorrow!

Love,
Carol