Well, I drove my little guy and my brother- his beloved Uncle Harley Davison- to the airport this morning.  My day was busy at work, and I came home and crashed into a deep sleep-only to awake to a phone call from his sweet voice via my mom's cell telling me his ears popped on the plane.  He sounded good, and I know he was in a car full of people who love and will care for him over these next 20 days as I finish my school year and gear up for Chemo Infusion #2. 

I miss him already, and am finding myself feeling a bit like a fish out of water knowing that tonight's bedtime routine will be quite different.

Elisha will be getting his bath, bedtime story, and nightly prayers in Ohio.

Acceptance.  We had planned a week at his Grammy Lou's pre-diagnosis-just not a 20 day visit.

So.  I will use this time gift wisely.

I have determined to get step 4 on my 5-step health plan a bit more in force while I have these huge windows of time now that my  day-to-day hands-on parenting responsibilities have been lifted.

1. prayer 2.  chemo  3.nutrition  4. exercise 5. rest

I pray a lot these days, and feel as if I just walk and talk with God throughout my day about everything that concerns me or makes my heart sing.

The chemo is doing what it is suppose to do:  Kill my cancer cells.  I know that it affects the other cells in my body, but the side effects seem to have subsided-for now.  I did a weird thing today, and went out and bought my favorite shampoo, and had this thought about how indulgent that was since, in reality, I would only get about 5 or 6 shampoos out of it.  I bought it anyway and decided it was worth it for a week or so.  There are plenty of heads full of hair in this household that could use it later.

I am eating more right, and trying to be very aware of what kinds of food I am putting into my body.  I am trying to listen to my body tell me what I need to get well.  I am also reading a great cookbook for cancer patients.  It is helpful. "Eating Well Through Cancer" by Holly Clegg is a good resource.  I am not eating to feed my emotions lately.  I journal instead.

So the challenge is: Step 4-the exercise...I am more than 8 weeks from the April 17th surgery, so I know I have the green light to do more aerobic exercise.  "No time" cannot be my excuse any longer, so I am counting on these next days to launch a new and improved habit of moving my body forward into a sweat.  It will help release the toxins, and do all that good stuff an exercised body is able to do!

Rest has never been a problem for me.  I love naps!