Winter Pink

The air was still and crisp in the bosque tonight. Silence prevailed, broken occasionally by calling birds. Tiny waves lapped against the river bank as I bent close to the water to photograph the Sandias as they tried on shades of pink while the sun kissed the horizon. The clear blue sky hung low, turning to gray as dusk settled in, and darkness loomed. All the troubles of the day seemed to vanish, if only for a short time, surrounded by the soothing colors and quite solitude of a cool winter evening.

The trouble is I have no immune system again.  Two months after my last chemo, the side effects are still quite strong. My port has to be flushed monthly, and my doctor added blood work with today's scheduled port maintenance. When the nurse looked at the chart, he commented that he thought it was strange she ordered the blood work, but when he came back with the results he said "…she always as a sense about these things! Look at your white counts and nuetrophils!" Both were way below normal. He gave me a fast acting growth factor shot, so now my bones are aching from going into hyperdrive to produce white blood cells. By tomorrow morning I will have an immune system again! 

As much as I want to be normal, today's lab work reminded me of how long the recovery process will be, and why I have to be so careful not to get sick. I may have to accept the fact I won't be normal for a long time to come, but at least I can go out and lose myself in the beauty of creation.

I'm figuring out how to manipulate the frames for interesting panoramic effects