Hearts Full of Thanks

November 26, 2008

We find our hearts full of Thanksgiving this season.

Erin and Walter have finished radiation for the day and the week, had an office visit, and are headed home. I have wrapped up my last class period of the semester and only face final exams and various other piles of grading before I can call it the end.

My house is relatively clean; my pantry stocked. In less than a month Davis will return from Hungary, and we will reunite as a family.

Erin had low platelets and white counts yesterday, but a good enough hemoglobin count that we didn't need a boost before radiation. Her susceptibility to germs and bacteria kept us away from the Community Thanksgiving Service last night, but we celebrated at home in our hearts.

HGB 11.9 (well above the 10.0 needed to continue radiation)
WBC 800 (not a good number)
ANC 300 (not a good number)
PLT 42,000 (not a good number)

Mainly, we are thankful that Erin's bad days this fall didn't portend worse days. We had occasions where Erin's overall health, pain level, and fatigue could have signaled rapidly progressing disease--a train wreck that we could not control or stop. Instead, we have a child in school, a child smiling, a child playing, a child cooking. I can't divine the future or even easily articulate what treatment will come next, but I don't really need to. It's enough to give thanks for what we have.