to be almost normal!!!  Check it out:  white count, 4.8; neutrophils, 2.0; hemoglobin, 12.8; hematocrit, 35.3; platelets, 150,000.  And to top that off, I’m allowed to be around children AND I can wear contacts!!!!  I’m not allowed to change diapers (hey, no objections here!), and I can’t be around children with cold symptoms, but I can’t be around anyone with cold symptoms so that’s no biggie.  Woooooooohooooooooooo!!!!  So remember this day, June 16th, one small step in my treatment, one giant leap toward feelings of normalcy.  :)  My mom, dad and I went out to dinner to celebrate, and we ran into a friend of theirs who surprised us and paid for our entire meal.  When we were leaving, we told him why we were celebrating, and exchanged hugs all around.  I was (and am) feeling pretty victorious!  I haven’t seen counts like these in over four and a half years…and I haven’t been able to hang out with all my little buddies for a little less than a year.  And I definitely won’t miss the marks my glasses leave on my nose.  Makeup, contacts, I’ll be the old Julie before I know it.   Well, actually, I’ll be the old Julie, only new and improved!

I wonder if all my celebrating this weekend helped boost my counts?!  From Laura’s promotion on Friday to the “Gipsy Kings”  Saturday night to a delicious steak dinner and Mom’s special angel food cake on Sunday, I felt pretty spoiled.  We had a gorgeous night for “Gipsy Kings”, and as always, I found myself looking around Wolf Trap and thinking how lucky we are to have it so close.  You just can’t beat that venue—it’s impossible!!!   The “Gipsy Kings” always put on a wonderful concert, and I was quite happy to dance the night away.  It definitely beat the dance parties Laura and I had in my hospital room last year at this time. 

After Laura, Tiso and Katie left on Sunday, I felt a little bit down.  I always feel sad when the weekend is over, and everyone returns to their own homes and their separate lives.  When I lay in bed waiting for sleep to come (since I no longer have the assistance of Ativan!), I shed some tears and thought about how far behind  I am in so many aspects of life.  I realized though that whenever I cry or feel down, I never feel desperate or totally defeated.  I asked myself what helped to keep up my positive attitude, and the answer was quite clear:  hope.  Even at my lowest points, I think about how I will move ahead and  have a career, a family, an entire life waiting to be lived.  Lately, many people have commented on how patient I’ve been with this whole process, and now that I really think about it, they’re right (not to pat myself on the back or anything!)!  What allowed me to be patient was hope.  Dictionary.com defines hope as “the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best”.  I’m grateful to now be conscious of this feeling.  You always hear stories about how hope sustained someone during a difficult time, but to truly feel it is remarkable.  It’s emotionally refreshing…and perhaps physically too, considering those high blood counts!

My blood counts and I are sitting here enjoying some HGTV (big surprise, I know!).  I enjoy this time in the evening when I can work on items on my to-do list, relax with TV, write on the blog, catch up on my favorite magazines…you know, the usual.  I do miss the feeling of early morning though.  Not enough to wake up  and partake of it, but I miss it.  :)  There’s that special energy of morningtime, you know?  I’m looking forward to getting up superearly next Tuesday to go down to DC and cheer on members of the Houston Police Bike Relay Team who are cycling from Houston to Providence, RI to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  They should pass through Georgetown between 7 and 9 AM, and I volunteered to go down and provide some encouragement, a great reason to wake up early!!!  Apparently, this year marks their 28th year.  Each time they cycle somewhere new, and they’ve raised over 3 million dollars for the Society.  Pretty amazing, don’t you think?  I’ll be sure to get some photos!!

Speaking of photos, there are a lot of them tonight!!  I hope you enjoy them.

I found this quote that I thought fit in perfectly with the post tonight considering my great health and my  many hopes:  “He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.” - Arabian proverb

Lots of love to everyone.  Wishing you all lots of health and lots of hope,

Julie