A good day

I had a good day today. Of course, it wasn't your typical type of good day because it was still filled with lots of pills, IVs, and my ever present upset stomach. But I measure good days in a different light these days. According to my new measuring stick this was a really good day.

It happened to turn into a really good day because I thought at first it might be one of those really awful days. See, when I washed my face this morning my skin started to peel off. Almost like I had a sunburn or something. Then a rash developed along my jaw line and up to underneath my eye. So, I got to my morning treatment and had to take 50 mgs of Benadryl through my PICC line before starting my IV and then another 50 mgs of Benadryl an hour and a half later. The swelling and itching went away and I came home and slept for a bit.


The treatment room I'm in is set up where it's basically three other girls and me. We're pretty far from the nurses' desk and really kind of away from everyone else. We have decided we like it this way - haha. Anyway, S (whom I've mentioned before) decided we should try to get a group picture during afternoon treatment. She said, "Let's try and look nice girls." I laughed and said, "I might take a bath or wash my hair, but you know I don't have the energy for makeup!!!" So after my nap I had to muster up the energy to at least be clean for the group shot as I had promised. So I took a bath and washed my hair. I got out of the tub tired and so I rested a bit, but then I decided to actually blow dry my hair. I can't remember the last time I actally did that. It felt nice to be clean and have my hair not looking so awful!

I got to treatment and got in my chair. My chair is next to a wall, then there's my friend S, and next to her is our friend, J, and then against the wall is our other friend whose name also starts with an S so perhaps I'll use the initial of her last name which is B. That won't make things as confusing. Anyway, we had all "cleaned up" somewhat and after the nurses gave us our Heparin and our dose of Benadryl one of them had time to take our group photo. It isn't the best picture in the world but when we saw it S & I immediately thought it looked like a summer camp photo! B thought she looked horrible in it but when you have a group shot with 4 girls you never end up with everyone happy. But taking the photo and the jokes we made about the photo afterward were well worth it!

We were crying laughing trying to tell B that we would just caption the photo with, "Pay no mind to the girl in the back, she's some random IV drug user just pushing her Benadryl." I know - such irreverant humor, but ANY kind of laughing in that place is so good to hear. We said many more things about the picture and then J read us all a lot of riddles which made us laugh too because working with our adled brains we hardly figured out even the easiest ones. That made us laugh even harder. Every time J would give us the answer to a real "stumper" we'd go, "Oooohhhhh" as if she had just explained the entire universe to us. It was a good day and we laughed. Here's our photo which S decided to title "Summer Camp '09" - HA!



Since they all have some of the same problems as I do the laughter eventually HAD to stop because our central nervous systems were getting overloaded. So, we each listened to music, or got on a computer, or napped. I had to come home and wear my Alpha-Stim SCS machine that hooks to my ears before I could ever really calm down.

Anyway, I may have worn myself out with the bathing & hair brushing, but I really tired myself out laughing! And it felt so good. So today was a good day. They don't come around often so when they do I want to make sure & share them with you all. I want to make sure you all know I haven't lost my sense of humor about all of this. If I can't laugh during treatments at least once a day then I don't think I'm being positive enough. Attitude is everything when it comes to getting well and getting through these sometimes grueling days.

I thank God for days like these. Especially for the days that J laughs because she has been in constant pain for most of her life! She's only 19 and has basically had one miserable migraine for the past 6 years as well as joint pain that sometimes keeps her in a wheelchair. So to hear her laugh really makes me light up and it soothes my soul. I hope it soothes hers as well!

Thank you Lord for giving me ways to laugh, for providing me with friends in treatment. Friends that are more like war buddies going through this fight with me, understanding the ups and downs like no one else can. Thank you for always reminding me that I am blessed to be where I am health wise even, because there are others who are going through so much worse. Thank you Lord for days like these when the laughter outnumbers the tears by far. I am so appreciative of your never ending love, your constant caring, and the gift of the Holy Spirit which moves in ways that I can't even comprehend. Laughter sometimes is the best medicine and I know it is the one with the least side effects :) I praise your name every time we have a good day like today because I know it comes from you.

Here's the verse I thought fit best for a day like today:

"He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy." Job 8:22 (NIV)

I hope you all have good weekends and good days ahead. Much love to you all!