Well folks—platelets were down to 6000 (from 220,000 when blood cell production is healthy) so having had a blood draw, on Wednesday morning, back to Mayo did we go for the second time that day. Good thing the desert is all a bloom—making the ride more enjoyable than when cactus appear to be struggling for survival during our fiery summers. Why go on about cacti? Well, desert plants and desert dwellers have this in common—Dehydration.
Both cactus, humans and all living things have need of water. In humans, water conveys deoxygenated blood cells into the heart’s ventricles via the blood stream and with each contraction this blood is pumped into our lungs where oxygenation takes place before being pumped (conveyed) into the brain and every cell that makes up every organ system in need of absorbing nutrients throughout our bodies. Though I’ve chosen not to detail our circulatory system, it’s plain that in the absence of water, plants and animals cannot function in a healthy manner. Biology 101. Simple, right? Unless it’s your circulatory system’s blood cell production or mine or that of a loved one that’s actively breaking down. Speaking from experience, (having had two spontaneous bleeds during this past year), nothing feels simple about body systems breaking down, until a fully functional brain—our body’s central control center—blacks out ...
While discussing consequences with my young sons, I’d always told this trio of mischief makers that ‘everything is connected’, and I’d always laughed when they’d rolled their eyes. Today I told myself that none of my body systems will function well most especially while I’m on chemo if I’m not adequately hydrated.
Having believed in (and taught classes in effective parenting concerning) positively focused attitudes for more than 40 years, much of what I’d learned to absorb (in addition to water) and dispense within rooms filled with young parents, re-ignites my spirit, today, brightening my views whenever a darkening thought concerning the health of my body systems threatens to upset my apple cart. Seriously, you know what ‘they’ say—an apple a day keeps the doctor away—snd I have so many doctors that it’s only smart to take very good care of every apple in my cart. Especially when I’m in need of walker or wheel chair to convey me from point A to point B.
Platelet transfusion was scheduled for 3:30 pm, Wednesday. Once again, It feels good to re-energize a little bit, every day so as not to sink to our Italian tiled floor, feeling too weakened to call out—Help! I can’t get up—my entire apple cart has suddenly careened out of control—the fruits of my labor swirling, round and round, here, there, everywhere, and somehow, it’s grown too dark to see how to put Annie back together again👩🏻 (Nope, I did not choose to name myself after Apple Annie, so with your well hydrated brains functioning effectively, please guess, again ...)
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