Daily Bread

Thanks for everyone who sympathized with my disdain of pill popping.  After hearing I wasn't alone, I thought of starting the "Anti Pill Coalition" (APC) - a nationwide movement to engineer a pill that doesn't stick to your tongue, float to the top of your mouth, or leave a vile and unrelenting taste. It was then that I remembered the darn things are saving my life. I can honestly say that I have taken more pills in the last week than I have in the last several years combined.

Now for an update on my chemo treatment.  I last wrote on Day One and we were kicking things off.  Since then I have had the opportunity to try a few more new and experimental drugs; which is generally discouraged, but when you have cancer nobody seems to give you a hard time :)

Chemo Dew

On Tuesday I got some more of "The Red Stuff" (Doxorubicin).  Like I said before, it looks intimidating but it's not so bad. 

On Wednesday I got to try Methotrexate. When I heard it was an appetite suppressant I was going to nick-name it "The Junk Food Drug".  I changed my mind just slightly when the nurse came in with a syringe full of Mountain Dew.  Methotrexate thus became "Chemo Dew".

I have a self correction about the asparagus drug I mentioned in a previous post.  It is not one of my pills. It is actually one of my chemo drugs.

The full name, "E.coli-Asparaginase Cytarabine" is quite intimidating (E.coli, seriously?) so you can imagine why I was a little nervous on Thursday. I showered and put on a pair of jeans rather than sweats because I didn't want to show this big bad asparagus drug any signs of weakness. 

The catch, this one is administered "inter-muscularly". A shot - well four shots actually - two in each thigh. "Luckily" they were able to have two different nurses come in and shoot me up at the same time, so I "only" had to get two sets of two shots simultaneously, instead of four successive pokes (I guess that's better?).  My wife said the only other time I was that nervous was the day I proposed to her!

After all the treatments I was pretty tired on Friday. The good news: I don't have any chemo scheduled till Monday and today I feel great!

Which brings me to the title of my post; D. Todd Christofferson wrote a very inspiring article in January's Ensign.  It is titled, "Recognizing God's Hand in Our Daily Blessings".  In it, he speaks about asking for, and receiving daily bread from the Lord.  

Needless to say my "daily bread" is a little different these days.  Sometimes it's as silly as finding the courage to swallow a grody pill on an upset stomach, and other times it's strength to go another day watching my adorable little boy on a webcam because he has a cold and isn't allowed to come see daddy till he gets better.

The point: life is a day-at-a-time journey.  There is wisdom in asking for and recognizing God's hand everyday. Even with cancer, I have been amazed by, and thankful for the many blessings I have received from the Lord.  Most of which have come to me and my family through ordinary people amidst their day-at-a-time journey, who out of the goodness of their hearts allowed us to be part of it.