Random Thoughts for a Friday Night

I love serving. I especially love serving in the temple. Tonight as I worked, I felt loved. I felt peace. I felt my Heavenly Father teach me profound principles - about how much He loves His daughters, about how He answers prayers, about being an instrument in His hands to bless others. It was pretty neat. These kinds of experiences help me feel less self-conscious when I'm the only one wearing a head scarf. They help me forget I have cancer for a little while. (I like those minutes best.) And I am grateful.

I had my blood drawn again yesterday. I wanted to get my blood drawn through my port, since I really only have one good vein for drawing blood, and it has been poked lots of times in the past few months (and is consequently kind of painful when it gets poked again). Last time, they told me to go to the hospital instead of the freestanding lab and that they would be able to do it, but the doctor didn't write the exact thing on the order that told them to draw blood from the port, so they wouldn't do it. This time, I made sure to get the order exactly right, and after I got to the hospital and went through admitting, they told me there wasn't a nurse available who could do a port draw. And that they didn't know how long it would be until there was one... and then they told me I should have had them call for the nurse before I went through admitting. (Why doesn't admitting know this? Who knows.) The whole thing is silly... you can't make an appointment to get blood drawn, but if you want it drawn from the port, you need a specific kind of nurse. That nurse may or may not be available when you come, because there are only about 3 people on the shift who can do it, but they service the entire hospital. What do they think I'm going to do? Come and wait to see if the nurse is available and then go away again if not? Come and then hang out for hours until there's a nurse available? Nope on both counts. I'll just go back to getting blood drawn from the arm next time, and not at the hospital. It's easier to go to the freestanding lab. On the plus side, I'm getting better about not freaking out around needles - mostly because I'm getting lots of practice. :-)

The other good news is that my blood work still looks good (yay! mini-celebration!) and that means I don't have to worry and I can go do all the things I need/want to do next week before I have Round 3. And by the way, when Round 3 is done, I am HALF DONE with chemo! Then we can have another mini-celebration. Said celebration will likely involve chocolate.

But not applesauce - that tasted too much like metal last time I tried it (right after the first round). Happily, though, I haven't had too many problems with food tasting weird. I prefer simple and bland foods for the first 4-5 days after chemo - things like club crackers or wheat thins and lightly seasoned meats and plain yogurt - but that is less about my taste buds and more about how the spicy/acidic/sugary/fancy foods make my body react. Then, once I get through the first week, things go back to normal. Normal is good. Especially when it involves dark chocolate and lemon sorbet. (Just not at the same time.)

(Actually, maybe I should try that. It sounds kind of delicious.) :-)