Lymph Journal # 49

3/31/2012

Well, it seems like I’ve successfully survived the brief brush with whatever spiked that fever and I’ve already refilled the prescription should we face this again – an altogether likely thing.  I feel really good – way better than when first diagnosed.  I can walk up hills without flagging and some muscle tone is coming back while my weight holds steady (within the fluid retention peaks and valleys of a round of chemo).  All these are good signs and I’ve got three days of this to enjoy before the next round.  Tuesday I go to the local clinic for another Rituxin infusion and the next day I’m back at the Uniklinik in Freiburg for the second and last round of chemo that precedes the harvesting of stem cells.  Hopefully, I’ll be back home for Easter.

The days have been quite spectacular weather wise here.  The early blooming bulbs are producing ground level colors and the earliest blooming fruit trees are beginning to daub the hillsides with hint of what is to come.  Shortly these hills will be covered with cherry and apple trees in full bloom.

For we Kandern locals there is no surer sign that spring is here than the amphibian driven speed reductions put into place to save the wandering amorous frogs.  It makes you grin every year.  Cars can travel on sections of the Autobahn at 100mph or more (and they do) but it’s strictly 30mph at night when the frogs are looking for a date.

I brake for frogs.

The lambs are lambed, the storks are redecorating and the fields are progressively harrowed into finer and finer grains of soil ready for planting.  The landscapes around here often demonstrate that the natural beauty of this region is often accented well by human effort rather than undermined by over-development. 

A proud parent

Spring lambs

Yes, they're real.

BFA has entered Spring break and the M-trips are off to all sorts of places.  This time last year Diane, Carl, eighteen others and myself were winging our way to China.  Big changes in one year!  (When I was undergoing diagnosis I fervently wished I had some crazy giant tapeworm of Asian origin to explain my symptoms – that sure would have been easier!  Oh well.).  Let’s pray that the trips this year go well, that lives are deeply impacted, that God is glorified and that all remain healthy.