Lucky number 7! Today was a good day, labs still looked solid with my white count falling slightly but still not at the bottom. Maybe my last few cells will hang around long enough to pass the torch to Keith's stem cells so that I don't sit unprotected! Side effects are still mild (bit of a sore throat today) and energy is doing ok. The excitement of day 7 was that I got my first growth factor shot. The shot part isn't so great, but the fact that it's going to kick the stem cells into action is very exciting!
I ran across a verse today that I never paid attention to before, Nehemiah 4:9, “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” Throughout this journey, I've prayed so often for a miracle: that God would touch me and make the cancer disappear. But once in a while I'd wonder, how would I even know? We got the diagnosis and jumped both feet into aggressive treatment, never checking in between chemo cycles to see if I still had cancer, never looking for the miracle. After the chemo I tested clear, complete remission, and yet we still moved forward with the stem cell transplant. What if that was God's miracle and I was ignoring it? Now, in my heart, I always felt a peace about the treatment decisions we had made and knew that God was with me, but I can't say that these thoughts didn't cross my mind and I couldn't come up with a good answer. Then today I ran across Nehemiah – God wants to hear from us, wants us to trust him, but He also expects us to use the resources and means that He provides. He's always in control and if He wants to pull out the "miracle card," I have to believe that He'll let me know. So all that being said, I will continue to pray and trust in God, while at the same time “posting a guard to meet this threat.” (and today we gave my guard a little extra help).
