Wednesday, January 23, 2008

We're home

We'll if you can believe it, we just got home around 6:30. It was a long and sobering day, but filled with many blessings. When we first got there, the thing that shocked me the most was how busy the waiting room was. All cancer patients! It was a wake up call to see that we live in a fallen world with plenty of sickness. I'm so thankful that one day in Heaven there won't be any more. It reminded me of Ecclesiastes 7:2 "It is better to go to a house of mourning, Than to go into a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man and the living takes it to heart." It was wierd to look around and wonder what everyone's story was. We saw the doctor, and he gave us the results of the PET and Bone Marrow biopsy. The bone marrow came back negative, but the Pet showed cancer cells in both sides of his neck and upper chest. It is still stage 2 though, and the treatment plan will stay the same. He will go twice a month for 6 months. Each treatment he will feel worse because it is a cumulative effect of all the drugs over time. Today he is feeling fine so far. They gave him 4 anti nausea drugs, so we are praying they will do what they are supposed to. He also didn't have any dangerous reactions to the drugs which is a praise. I was able to gather all his test and labs from the various departments for when we go for a second opinion. If anyone who lives close to me has a fax machine that I can borrow in the next day or two, that would be great. It may cost a lot to go to Office Depot, so that would be a huge help. We met a couple in the chair next to us. His name was David too, and he also had Hodgkins. He just moved here from Fresno and was on his 3rd treatment. He already lost his hair. Anyway, they said they might come to Placerita. I don't know if they will, but they haven't found a church to attend. We gave them the article by John Piper "Don't waste your cancer", and she told me that Kaiser offers massages for a dollar an hour! :) I don't know if we will see them again because he comes on Wednesdays, and we are going to come on Fridays from now on. Thanks for praying for us. The Lord is good!

3 comments:

Mersch Family said...

You must be worn out. I'm glad to hear that David is feeling okay so far. Ken has a fax machine at work. If nothing else works, you could bring everything to school on Friday and I could give it to him to fax on Sat. am. My dad also has a fax machine at work--I could do that for you on Friday afternoon. We would take good care of the records until Tuesday and would be happy to help in that way if you can't find another solution. Does your church office have a fax? Praying, praying, praying.

Love,
Shannon

Ashley Kostjuk said...

We continue to pray for healing and strength for Dave and we can already see that the Lord is being honored through your actions and perspective. That is one thing that we noticed is that we realize how cursed creation is when we have to go to the hospital frequently - it is a sobering reminder that we live in a fallen world but yet a joy knowing that heaven awaits all those who believe on the Lord.

carolina clan said...

Hey guys,
You're in our prayers too. I just want you to know you truly are an inspiration and a testimony to others the way you are so positively handling this trial. I'm glad you have a blog so we can keep up on how you're doing...even way over here in S.C.!!!