During the past month or so, I’ve been taking time each morning to read, think, and meditate. I guess that’s one of the benefits of having a life-threatening disease – you realize that life is precious, and limited. I’ve been very fortunate this lifetime and have always expected my life to flow smoothly, without serious challenges that other people face. But is smoothly flowing through life enough?

We all make choices every day that determine the shape and outcome of our life. As Mary quoted Dr. Norman Vincent Peale in a previous post, “The secret of life is not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you.” I believe that I’ve made lots of good decisions in my life, but I’ve also suffered through the consequences of some not so good decisions.

A recent reading compared water to our life. Water can be trapped in a pond in the woods and become stagnant. Or water can dance down the face of a beautiful fountain in the city square. One is barely alive and the other is vibrant and inspiring, just as with our lives.

I’m not there, but I choose to live the rest of my life like the water in the fountain, full of energy, flowing freely, and maybe even inspiring others.

Mom and I went to see Dad today at the nursing home and he was doing very well today 😉 He was awake, alert, and talkative. He was surprised to see me with less hair than he has. The last time I was there, Dad was so sleepy he would not open his eyes. Since I’ve started chemotherapy I’ve not been able to visit each week as in the past. It was great to see him doing so well.

We played bingo and I called the numbers. Dad won one game. Residents take their bingo seriously. When there are ties, the first one to yell bingo wins, and not everyone agrees who was first to yell bingo. So it can be difficult making those close calls.

After bingo, we called my brother Dave since Dad had not spoken with him for awhile. We caught Dave on the golf course so our conversation was a short one. Dad enjoyed hearing Dave’s voice.

When Dad was served his dinner, he called the tech back to the
table and said he wanted to ask the blessing first. So Dad repeated our normal blessing and then added extra thanks for having a very good day. Yes, Dad had a good day!

Oh heah, I had a great day too 😉

I am very thankful that I’ve been able to eat solid foods each day during this second round of chemotherapy.  My appetite has been good.  Today I ate a healthy 3000 calories. This has allowed me to maintain my weight, or even gain a couple of pounds. They say I will need this extra weight when I get to the radiation phase of my treatment regimen.

Thanks to Mary’s research and advice, we’ve added a new medication and I have been taking another medication prior to getting symptoms of sore throat and esophagus. All of this is based on what we learned during the first round of chemo. Hopefully, this will hold true for the next round of chemo that starts next Wednesday.