H!GGY August 17, 2022 No Comments
Lara receiving chemo.
Lara receiving chemo.

It’s been a while since my last update.

First, the fundraiser by Mike Gaddy (with Southern Stone…who I can’t tag) and The Litas Lake Lanier was a huge success. People rallied and came out in force to show their support and we raised over $2500. Best of all, Lara felt well enough to come out and join the crowd. Thanks to everyone who made it—even if only in spirit.

Fast forward a week (to this past Saturday). The Litas Atlanta coordinated a ride-by in Lara’s honor. I wheeled her to the top of the road so she could watch the procession as they headed by. We were even able to convince some non-Litas to join that ride.

I think both of these events made Lara feel alive. I can’t thank everyone enough!

Now to bring us to today. She’s currently getting another round of chemo and some of you may be thinking it’s an off week for that if she’s supposed to be getting biweekly infusions. Right, you are. Last week her absolute neutrophil count was too low for chemo. They want at least 1.5 and she was at 0.77. Today she was better at 5.91. I’ll attach a cool illustration on neutrophils to this post for everyone’s enjoyment.

While I was bummed that she couldn’t get chemo last week, the upside was she felt better more often than when she does have chemo. It wasn’t uncommon to find her pacing around the house (doing her “laps”) for some movement or on the front porch relaxing. Oh, and her appetite is much improved too. She’s asking for the good stuff like grilled cheese sandwiches, enchiladas and rice, and quesadillas in addition to the other supplemental nutrition she was already having (protein shakes, cottage cheese, imitation crab meat, etc).

These small things are huge. I love you, Lara! You gleam in these otherwise dark days and I hope I can maintain even a shred of the dignity and serenity you’ve kept on display this whole time.

Housekeeping note: I’ve done my best to stay as communicative as I can. While I like to think I’ve responded to everyone’s inquiries into Lara’s health and well-being as well as to the countless thinking-of-you messages, texts, and phone calls, I know it’s possible I’ve neglected to respond to some of them. I just want to let everyone know that those messages are welcome, uplifting, and humbling. I’m sorry if I haven’t responded to you!

Originally shared on Facebook.

Read the other Lara Logs:

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