Running uphill

In this Evans' world one literally has to live one day at a time.  For the last 7 days Ric has been feeling FANTASTIC!!!!!! We have had a whole week of no emergencies, no bruising, no bleeding no nothing! Yes! I had been hoping for some calm. However, as I rejoice in the calm I can't help to think if this is the calm before the storm.

Everything did feel like an uphill struggle when we started this course of treatment. Some people compare this to a roller coaster ride. I compare it to hill repeats.  During hill repeats we constantly go up the hill at an uncomfortable speed and then come down slowly, to recover. We do this for a ridiculous number of times, because let's face it to "normal" humans running up and down a hill more than once it's just stupid. When we are going up we struggle mentally and physically, just like we struggle when Evans decide to rear its ugly head and say hi.  But when we get to the top, it is an achievement and we look around us and realize that "yeah, we just kicked that hill's ass!"

Today, we are at his 3rd chemo with Rituximab.  As usual, they drew blood for a cbc panel.  I always look forward to CBC results because this is the only way of knowing if Ric is responding to this medicine. I anxiously wait for CBC results, almost as much as race mornings.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but in a world of unknowns, CBC results give me some type of comfort.  His platelets today are at 149,000 (normal 150,000 and up), his white blood cells are 3900 (normal 4000 and up), his neutrophils are at 1883, right at normal!!! Did you hear that??? Normal????

Today's results gave me a little bit of hope. However, I am very cautious with this hope thing. I know we only have one round left , so we might just have to start running uphill again. But, in a world that is one day at a time I will rejoice in today's little victory! Today, it looks like he's responding to treatment. Today, we have good numbers. These past few days, we have enjoyed the view from the top of our hill. It looks great and promising. But, I know Evans and I know we need to start coming down the hill, recover and catch our breaths for when we have to run uphill again.  Hill repeats suck, but they make us stronger and that's what I need to keep focusing on. This whole thing sucks, and even though I can't understand "why Ric?" most days, it is making me, Ric and my whole family stronger. This past week, we kicked the hill's ass!