People have been calling and emailing me about not updating the blog, so I apologize and will now give you the latest. Fortunately, there is not much to report. Last week I went for a bloodcheck and my white counts had come up to 2.5 and I was no longer neutropenic. However, my platelets had dropped 10,000 to 59,000 so they opted to give me a full 8 weeks to recover from the chemo. The doctor wasn’t concerned about the platelet drop and said it is normal to see some ups and downs while the marrow recovers. But in order to go to the next cycle, my platelets need to be at 75,000. I go to the hospital tomorrow for another count check and am hoping they are coming back up.

Although I will confess to having a fair amount anxiety over the platelets when I found out, I got over it pretty quickly and have been having a great time NOT going to the hospital and living a normal life. I’ve been doing a lot with the kids, running errands and doing all of the wonderful day-to-day things I missed. This weekend I am off to New York for my first “vacation” in almost a year! And next weekend, I have social activities planned for Friday night through Sunday so I am taking advantage of every moment I can before I start the next chemo.

To be perfectly blunt, I feel pretty amazing. I’m off of antibiotics – finally – since I’m no longer neutropenic, and I have a lot more energy. I’m getting better at mentally handling challenges that have come my way. I’m not letting things bother me like they used to. And I’m trying to really embrace the idea of just living in the moment. I feel like I can more clearly see how stress has impacted my body, mindset and way of life over the last several years of my life. Because I am better at recognizing it, I can more quickly turn it off and refocus my energy on more positive things. I guess I’m in such a good mood because I’ve been out and able to interact with the world and my friends. The trick will be to keep this momentum going through the next cycle.