I'm not a painter. I had to take Art Appreciation in college twice. That's another story.

But I do enjoy a feature on my camera that transforms a photograph into a watercolor. And the reason I like to do that is that it allows me to see something different that a highly detailed image. The color flows in wide swatches and the form comes to the front and the texture becomes brush strokes, and I find a different appreciation for what I am seeing.

I need that for my cancer.

I'm not halfway yet through the treatments. Oh, I have had 2 of the four scheduled chemotherapy infusions but the effects last far longer than the one day at the oncology center. Today is another blood test to determine how low my white blood count has gone. I suspect it will be lower than three weeks ago, after the first test. My energy was lower all last week and there were a couple of challenging days to summon any strength. It would be terrific if I could blur those days to see the beauty instead of the details.

Dr. Thompson raised my stage to 3 last week. A technical adjustment he said which doesn't affect my treatment schedule nor his intention to cure my cancer. But muted brush strokes would have been helpful there.

Summer doesn't officially begin until around June 21. I should have recovered from my fourth chemotherapy by then. And summer will just be beginning. Radiation will follow. Maybe it will lend itself to more watercolor than chemo.