Life is uncharted territory...

Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time goes the saying. Never have these words been more relevant than now. We are through with the chemo and now the mission is to strengthen Ranjan's depleted immune system. What will still remain for the times to come is regular blood counts. The counts last week were scary and in spite of booster shots the results I have just got are not great. His TLC is still way below the minimum acceptable of 4000. His are 2.3. That means that in spite of the shots that normally pump the white cells up dramatically - there was a time when they went from 3000 to 16000 - this time they only went up from 1500 to 2360 a tiny 736! His bone marrow is terribly suppressed. That is not the best news. In fact it is a red flag to remind us that we have a long way to go. So we have to let life reveal its story one moment at a time. Step 1 is to get the immune system kicking again.

Booster shots cannot be given forever. The way to go is nutrition and exercise. I have tried to give Ranjan a balanced diet all through his chemotherapy and it seems to have worked as he did not lose weight but now it seems that one will have to fine tune the diet.

I have been scouring the net for more information. The one food that seems to have a bad rating in every article is SUGAR! Now I know it is going to be a very uphill task to get Ranjan to eliminate sugar from his diet. Though I am sweetening his smoothies and other 'sweet treats' with alternative options, Ranjan still craves for sugar. Chocolates, biscuits, cakes and sweets. How do I convince him that sugar will have to be a no no for some time at least. We all know that even if his 11 chemos worked fabulously they could have only killed 80% cancer cells. 20% still remain and we absolutely do not want to give them what they love most: SUGAR. But that is what Ranjan loves most too: cheesecakes and chocolate brownies. I will have to find a substitute

What is recommended is much of what he has been eating. The only thing I guess I will have to do is increase the protein intake. His diet is mostly vegetarian though I give him eggs and fish and of course all plant based proteins. But it does not seem to have been enough so will need to add more protein rich foods. Funnily it is said that green peas are rich in protein and that is a win win situation as he loves green peas. The other possibilities are quinoa, chia seeds, nuts and nuts butter, beans etc. So new menus will have to be worked out.

The uncharted territory or new normal is undoubtedly going to unfold one moment at a time. It is definitely going to be a mixed bag with good and bad moments, fear and elation. A new roller coaster ride for Ranjan and I.