Back In The High Life Again

The title to this post is a reference to a classic Steve Winwood song not a reference to the High Life Lounge hear in Des Moines. Both of which are fantastic though. No I am referring to my new humble abode located on the 4th floor of Methodist Hospital. It is my old stomping grounds. When I was first diagnosed I did all of my Chemo treatments here. Stacey and I know the amazing staff very well and are more than acclimated to the amenities and surroundings. After I initially got over the being in the hospital for the weekend blues I realized that this place has a safe homey feel too it for us now. There is just something about this place that makes you feel comforted and when you are being taken care of by such professionals it puts your mind at ease.

Well let's back track a little. So I have been getting these fevers, mainly at night. Some have spiked to about 102.5. We were put on a Tylenol regiment with the addition of a Z Pack. A Z Pack is basically a high dose antibiotic. This was going ok until yesterday when the fevers came back. As Stacey and I went in to get my fluids they took my temp and it was 102.4 again... Not good. I was seen by one of the Oncology Doctors and then admitted to the hospital after my radiation treatment. Needless to say I was pretty bummed... I was hoping that I could finally go back to work this week but it seems that that will probably not happen again due to the amount of antibiotics that I need to get over the next week. 2 times daily intravenously as well as radiation treatments everyday next week. Long story short, I wasn't in the best mood, I wasn't feeling good and I was going to be cooped up in the hospital for the weekend. Then I had what some people call a moment of clarity.

Sometimes all we need in our lives is perspective. As soon as we got checked into the hospital Stacey and began to catch up with some of the staff about what had been going on at the hospital since we were here several months ago. We made the mistake of asking about other patients. 2 patients empirical that we had grown close to early in my diagnosis. Both patients had rare forms of Leukemia and it was told to us that they both didn't pull through. My mind went blank. I couldn't talk or think straight. I gave it sometime to set in. After saying some silent prayers for there families I changed my mindset. This was not a woe is me situation. My small problems of possibly having an infection and being hospitalized were nothing more than dust in the wind compared to the things that those two families had gone through in the last few months. I thought about what my role is a Cancer Patient. I decided that no matter what you fight!

As a cancer patient the most important thing to fight for is hope and future. Think of the future and what could be not as something that is distant and vague but as a direct outcome of the rough treatments that you are going though. I don't think that it is possible for a cancer patient to be given too much support or too much hope for a bright future. The Hope is what gets you through the toughest days when you can barely move away from the couch or when your head is face down in a toilet. All I have to think about to get me through those tough times is that God has a bigger plan. No we are not in control but what we are in control of is how we react to the trials and tribulations that are set before us.

I fight because I am madly in Love with a girl that has and will continue to do anything for me. I fight because I have an amazing family that I talk to everyday and they put a huge smile on my face. I fight because I have an amazing sister who is just waiting to give me her bone marrow. I fight because of the friends that have bent over backwards to support us. And today I realized that I also fight for those that fought but didn't make it.

So in conclusion I am truly Back In The High Life Again. My perspective on life as once again been changed for the better. As my Mom would say "Its a God thing!" And it truly is. We sometimes get so caught up in our own everyday issues that bog us down but the strange fix to our issues is perspective. There is always someone out there that is going through something much harder and once we realize that our issues and problems seem to not matter as much anymore. We might even appreciate some of those so called problems if we look at those from a positive perspective as well.

God is Good and he is always working!

Brian Pritchard