Thursday Evening
Greetings from the North West side of Indy:
We are sure glad to be able to be able to communicate with all of you this way. I have thought about how hard and expensive it would be to try to let all of you know what is going on each day with out the use of modern tech at work. This is certainly one time that we can indeed Praise the Lord for the internet.
Yesterday was day number three that the WBC was at 0.1 and there were no blasts. Praise the Lord! This morning Dr. Lee was happy and was saying that he would take the 0.1. Further he thinks it will be 4 or 5 more days before the bone marrow starts working again. There is also a way through the blood to tell if the bone marrow is working or not. And right now the indication is that it is not working. That is okay but in another 4 or 5 days it needs to start working again. In the mean time, we hope that all of the cancer cells are getting eat up by the chemo.
Marty is having some of the terrible tiredness again, but that too is to be expected with a WBC of 0.1; a HGB of 7.7; and platelets of 27. Those numbers are just to low to do the job they have to do and for Marty (or anyone for that matter with those kind of numbers) to have any energy or desire to do much of anything. Other than that she continues to hold her own or improve just a little. I asked Dr. Lee this morning about the expectation we had at the start that she would be sicker than she has been before which has not happened and could it still happen? He said we take one day at a time, and with her numbers as low as they are, it means that she has next to no immune system, she could get anything at anytime and change the whole picture. We pray for God’s grace to continue to keep her going and for God’s will to be done.
Today is the 43 day or the start of the 7th week that we have been here at St. V’s. I have told some folks that have stopped by (by the way, we were really pleased to be able to spend some time with Jim and Alice H. from Peru today) that we do truly miss our friends and the community of faith back in Peru. It is hard to be away this long, under these circumstances I do believe. So, I have dealt with it by talking to everybody and having fun with everybody that I can. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t – just like life, sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t. But one of the things that I have found very interesting is actually kind of two fold: 1.) if you treat someone nice they are going to do the same to you. (Golden Rule) 2.) If you make someone feel good and valued by showing attention to them it will help them and they will remember you. Both of these open a door to start a relationship. I have many, many examples and stories I could tell to illustrate what I am saying, but let me just share one.
One of the patients not to far from us is a woman in her 70’s that has AML like Marty does. Because of here age they will not even consider doing a transplant, so, they are trying for remission. She has actually been here longer than we have. And for the last couple of weeks she has really been down in a lot of ways, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. She is a very hardy, intelligent, independent lady who has seen a lot, done a lot in this world. Before coming to the hospital she was still working, not because she had to, but because she wanted to. Recently her sister has come from New York, her daughter from St. Louis, her son on the week-ends, and a number of friends during the week. Last week one time when I stopped to see her, I asked her how she was feeling and she gave me the standard “OK”. So, then I said, “Now, (name) tell me how you really feel.” Because from looking at her one could tell she didn’t feel “OK.” So, she said to me, with a friends sitting beside her, “I feel like ____.” I said now that sounds like a more truthful answer. And we talked a little more about it. I stop to see her about every day, since we come right past her room, and the other day when I stopped another friend was there, and when she introduced me she said, “This is one person to whom you can tell the truth about how you feel and she will listen.” Praise the Lord! I do believe that God has used me one more time to help some one on this floor and in this hospital. God is so good – all the time! All the time – God is so good!
Today’s scripture on the calendar is Matthew 4:19 and it reads: “Come follow me… and I will make you fishers of men.” It is our responsibility in all that we do, wherever we are, to follow Jesus and become fishers of people. That indeed is what it means to be a Christian. To share the love and grace of God so that people can feel comfortable with us and find in us the unconditional love and acceptance of God. It is not always easy, and it is not always accepted but it is the example that God has given us, in Jesus Christ from whom we are to learn how God wants us to live.
So, wherever we may be and whatever may be going on in our lives may we always be the followers of Jesus and the fishers of people so, that God will be glorified.
Have a positive day and God bless.
Marty and Jack
John 3:16
Greetings from the North West side of Indy:
We are sure glad to be able to be able to communicate with all of you this way. I have thought about how hard and expensive it would be to try to let all of you know what is going on each day with out the use of modern tech at work. This is certainly one time that we can indeed Praise the Lord for the internet.
Yesterday was day number three that the WBC was at 0.1 and there were no blasts. Praise the Lord! This morning Dr. Lee was happy and was saying that he would take the 0.1. Further he thinks it will be 4 or 5 more days before the bone marrow starts working again. There is also a way through the blood to tell if the bone marrow is working or not. And right now the indication is that it is not working. That is okay but in another 4 or 5 days it needs to start working again. In the mean time, we hope that all of the cancer cells are getting eat up by the chemo.
Marty is having some of the terrible tiredness again, but that too is to be expected with a WBC of 0.1; a HGB of 7.7; and platelets of 27. Those numbers are just to low to do the job they have to do and for Marty (or anyone for that matter with those kind of numbers) to have any energy or desire to do much of anything. Other than that she continues to hold her own or improve just a little. I asked Dr. Lee this morning about the expectation we had at the start that she would be sicker than she has been before which has not happened and could it still happen? He said we take one day at a time, and with her numbers as low as they are, it means that she has next to no immune system, she could get anything at anytime and change the whole picture. We pray for God’s grace to continue to keep her going and for God’s will to be done.
Today is the 43 day or the start of the 7th week that we have been here at St. V’s. I have told some folks that have stopped by (by the way, we were really pleased to be able to spend some time with Jim and Alice H. from Peru today) that we do truly miss our friends and the community of faith back in Peru. It is hard to be away this long, under these circumstances I do believe. So, I have dealt with it by talking to everybody and having fun with everybody that I can. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t – just like life, sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t. But one of the things that I have found very interesting is actually kind of two fold: 1.) if you treat someone nice they are going to do the same to you. (Golden Rule) 2.) If you make someone feel good and valued by showing attention to them it will help them and they will remember you. Both of these open a door to start a relationship. I have many, many examples and stories I could tell to illustrate what I am saying, but let me just share one.
One of the patients not to far from us is a woman in her 70’s that has AML like Marty does. Because of here age they will not even consider doing a transplant, so, they are trying for remission. She has actually been here longer than we have. And for the last couple of weeks she has really been down in a lot of ways, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. She is a very hardy, intelligent, independent lady who has seen a lot, done a lot in this world. Before coming to the hospital she was still working, not because she had to, but because she wanted to. Recently her sister has come from New York, her daughter from St. Louis, her son on the week-ends, and a number of friends during the week. Last week one time when I stopped to see her, I asked her how she was feeling and she gave me the standard “OK”. So, then I said, “Now, (name) tell me how you really feel.” Because from looking at her one could tell she didn’t feel “OK.” So, she said to me, with a friends sitting beside her, “I feel like ____.” I said now that sounds like a more truthful answer. And we talked a little more about it. I stop to see her about every day, since we come right past her room, and the other day when I stopped another friend was there, and when she introduced me she said, “This is one person to whom you can tell the truth about how you feel and she will listen.” Praise the Lord! I do believe that God has used me one more time to help some one on this floor and in this hospital. God is so good – all the time! All the time – God is so good!
Today’s scripture on the calendar is Matthew 4:19 and it reads: “Come follow me… and I will make you fishers of men.” It is our responsibility in all that we do, wherever we are, to follow Jesus and become fishers of people. That indeed is what it means to be a Christian. To share the love and grace of God so that people can feel comfortable with us and find in us the unconditional love and acceptance of God. It is not always easy, and it is not always accepted but it is the example that God has given us, in Jesus Christ from whom we are to learn how God wants us to live.
So, wherever we may be and whatever may be going on in our lives may we always be the followers of Jesus and the fishers of people so, that God will be glorified.
Have a positive day and God bless.
Marty and Jack
John 3:16
posted by Jack | 10:56 PM
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