Lessons in Silver Linings

Mom has been holding out through all the sickness around her, until today. She had a fever this morning, and went to Urgent Care... she has a spot of pneumonia.

BUT LET'S FOCUS ON THE AWESOME NEWS, SHALL WE?

Her white count and platelets were way up, and hey - she got a fever right away. That means that, although her numbers have been hanging by a thread from the low end of normal, what she has got WORKS. Her body launched a full-on immune response to the pneumonia before it got out of hand.

I'll need to drill it in to her that this is GOOD. Not only is she in remission and should refer to herself has having a "history of leukemia", her bone marrow is doing the job it's supposed to do.

What upsets me is the near guarantee of the leukemia relapsing. That's so unfair (understatement of the millenium), that she can be so well recovered, medically speaking, but has to go through the wringer again for a bone marrow transplant.

I want to add that I am immensely grateful to those of you who have donated to mom's BMT fund. Your gifts touch our hearts with love. Two weeks remain before I begin phase II of my fundraising efforts, and those of you who have given already have given me hope. Thank you.

Why?

Oh, I've been waiting for this day!

This morning, Samuel and I played three rounds of the Why? game. I am unreasonably happy about this particular milestone, because I know it can quickly become annoying.

In the spirit of Silver Linings, though, I have challenged myself to use the Why? game as a meditative practice. I challenge myself to remain cheerful and creative throughout all our Why? games, no matter how long.

It's a tall order, I know.