It's going to be a long Summer, and it will certainly be dominated by chemo. I've decided to do something to commemorate each treatment and have a little fun with it. There will be twelve treatments, so I tried to think of groups of twelve. Sure, Jesus had twelve disciples and there were twelve tribes of Israel (all sons of Jacob, if I may remind you). Those would work, but then I had a better idea. Here it is:
On the first day of chemo, my oncologist prescribed for me
A pair of apple trees
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| On Wednesday, May 13, the day after my fist chemo treatment, Dad and my brother Daniel helped me plant this pair of apple trees. You can see them on either side of us. There's also a peach tree in the foreground. Planting these trees was one of the most encouraging things I've done since being diagnosed with cancer. For me it is putting hope in action. I'm not going anywhere. There's a lot of fruit (of all sorts) left to be born in Emma. |
Two turtle doves
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| Aren't they cute? You can make just about anything from candy wrappers. (Second chemo treatment was May 26) |
Three French hens
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| (They almost certainly surrendered.) |
On the fourth day of chemo, my oncologist prescribed for me
Four calling birds fans
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| Yes, Mike, Marilee, Hannah and I are all fans of the birds--the Red Birds that is! |
On the fifth day of chemo, my oncologist prescribed for me
Five golden rings
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| That's right, five pairs of rings for today. Julia's parents: Mike and Marilee Wehrenberg (top left), My parents: Tim and Dawn Mueller (top right), My brother and sister-in-law: Paul and Jessie Mueller (bottom right), Julia's brother and sister-in-law: Mitch and Shelby Wehrenberg (bottom left) and Julia and I (center) |
Chemo number five was supposed to be on July 7th, but was delayed until July 14th due to my low platelet count.
On the sixth day of chemo, my oncologist prescribed for me
Six guys a laying
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| Laying bricks that is, which you can clearly see in our hands. Here I am with five other members of our South Africa Mission Team. We'll be traveling to South Africa next June to build a house for people affected by HIV/AIDS. We might not know what to do with them now, but we will soon! Team members pictured are (from left to right) Roger Flandermeyer, Joe Blackburn, John Frerking, myself, Katlin Murray, and Tim Mehl. |
Chemo number six was on July 28th
Chemo treatment number seven was delayed due to a low platelet count.
On the seventh day of chemo, my oncologist prescribed for me
Seven Schwans a swimming
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| These seven "Ancient Grain Crusted Cod" from Schwans take one final swim. |
On the eighth day of chemo my oncologist prescribed for me
Eight maids a milking
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| Michael Hemme (a dairy farmer at Holy Cross) snapped this picture of a bunch of their cows milking. There has got to be at least seven cows behind this one. |
Chemo number eight was on September 1
On the ninth day of chemo my oncologist prescribed for me
Nine ladies dancing
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| Here are nine ladies from St. Paul's Lutheran Elementary, Concordia, MO doing the "Whip and Neigh Neigh" |
Chemo number nine was September 22 (there was a one week delay)
On the tenth day of chemo my oncologist prescribed for me
Ten lords a leaping
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| "A Christian is a free lord, subject to none" --Martin Luther 8th graders from St. Paul Concordia, once again |
Chemo number ten was on October 6, had there been no delays, this would have been the day of my last chemo treatment
On the eleventh day of chemo my oncologist prescribed for me
Eleven pipers pipping
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| Amazingly, this is the only one that cost me any money. It was $13 to get pipe from the hardware store. |
Chemo number eleven was on October 20
On the twelfth day of chemo my oncologist prescribed for me
Twelve drummers drumming
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| More like 12 percussionists, but you get the idea. It was the closest I could get to 12 drums. Thanks again to the St. Paul 8th grade class! |
Chemo number twelve, the final one, was on November 10
I'm done!
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