Keep the Song

Today's reading in Streams in the Desert picked right up from my closing thoughts yesterday about praising God. After reading the following verses, I raised my own squeaky chemo voice to sing a couple of my favorite worship songs to God.

Don't let the song go out of your life
Although it sometimes will flow
In a minor strain; it will blend again
With the major tune you know.

Don't let the song go out of your life;
Though the voice may have lost its trill,
Though the quivering note may die in your throat,
Let it sing in your spirit still.

Yesterday my doctor's nurse called me about a scheduling issue, and when I mentioned the mouth sores she said she'd order a prescription for Magic Mouthwash for me. (The pharmacy didn't have the needed ingredients on hand, so I'll pick it up today.) But here's the cool part: a neighbor (also a blog reader) who had cancer a year ago offered her left-over Magic Mouthwash to tide me over. Later another neighbor (another blog reader) who had cancer two years ago sent over a tube of antibiotic mouth salve. (Please don't tell the medicine police that I'm using other people's prescriptions!) Both products were wonderfully soothing, and I was not awakened at all by pain last night.

In the last three days, three friends told me "out of the blue" that they were praying for my CA 125 to drop below 15 before the next chemo so I can discontinue the taxotere which is causing the side effects. But logistically, the nurses always draw blood immediately before administering the chemo, and results on CA 125 take 3 days, so we wouldn't know in time to leave out the taxotere. I felt humbled by my friends' concern, and wanted to honor their faith on my behalf. So here's how we've worked it out:

We'll return to Charlotte from our trip to Washington DC for Lisa's graduation earlier than planned--on May 15. I have an appointment on May 16 for the blood tests that will get the results back to the doctor by the end of the week, in time to make an informed decision about how much chemo to administer on Monday May 22. It sounds complicated!

If you feel comfortable to join those friends' bold prayers, please do. Last time, as you recall, the CA 125 dropped only about 12 points. This is a request for a 25-point drop--from 40 to 15! It's not too hard for God, although it's an unlikely expectation from the chemo. So who's trusting chemo, anyway?

A friend in Australia asked for photos of our family. I posted them yesterday afternoon. If you'd like to see them, please scroll down a few lines.

Love,
Carol