Changing the mixology

Since January, Carol has been on a cocktail of (minimally) four different drugs for her treatment. This week, that main number went down to three. One of the nasty four is a platinum-based drug that has a tendency to cause neuropathy in the hands and feet. Rather than being flushed out during the interval between treatments, though, this drug's effects are cumulative, meaning that the neuropathy becomes worse over time. This is what was starting to happen for Carol. While she had noticed some tingling early in her treatments, by this time, scheduled to be her ninth cycle of this concoction, it had become more insistent. Rather than risk a worsening of that condition, she decided to forge ahead with the other three drugs, but to leave out that fourth.

What does this mean? Well, for starters, it would be nice to think that the neuropathy would just go away, but that will take time. Without more of that drug entering her system, she should feel the effects of the neuropathy lessen over the next couple months. As for the overall effectiveness of the treatment, the hope is that the other drugs kick in their share, keep Scout's condition good, and let her get on with the business of living.

Thanks, as always, to everyone for your support.

On the Eve

With the luck of good weather, we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary Tuesday afternoon by riding Icelandic horses in Waitsfield. I never actually thought I'd be writing those words. Oh, the "celebrating our 25th anniversary" bit I fervently hoped wasn't too much of a stretch; it's the "luck" of being able to ride Icelandic horses in Waitsfield that comes as the surprise. But then, I wouldn't have expected to spend our 24th anniversary meeting with an oncologist, either. The good fortune I have had to spend the last 25+ years with Scout is matched only by the good fortune I have to continue to be with her. Riding Icelandic horses? Icing on the cake.

While we know that the time before any of us was here stretched so far into the past, and the time after we're gone will span so deep into the future, it is, over the past year, this time right now that has come to mean everything. 

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Sometimes people are beautiful. Just in what they are.

-- Markus Zusak

There Will Be Rest

There will be rest, and sure stars shining 

Over the roof-tops crowned with snow,

A reign of rest, serene forgetting,
The music of stillness holy and low.

I will make this world of my devising
Out of a dream in my lonely mind.
I shall find the crystal of peace, – above me
Stars I shall find.

                 -- Sara Teasdale