Transplant Day - 3

This is Karen, posting for Dad.  After my school bbq tonight, I headed over to the hospital to visit with Dad for the evening.  While he had been feeling well enough to ask for pizza (!) earlier today, he decided to stick with a normal hospital meal and is resting now.  Mom was here for most of the day but has just gone home for some supper and hopefully, a quiet evening and a restful night.

It's hard to believe that after 5 1/2 months of hydroxurea (oral chemo pill), 4 days of busulfan (IV chemo), and 2 days of cyclophophamide (IV chemo), Dad is officially done chemotherapy!  Lord willing, he will never have to take chemo again.  We are so incredibly thankful that he was able to make it through the past six days very well, with side effects controlled well by medication.  Dad told me that while he was feeling tough today, he kept thinking of the chemo drugs killing his stem cells, blowing them up like an old pacman and preparing the way for donor cells!  It's a great way of picturing the chemo at work!

This last type of chemo is hard on the kidneys, liver, and bladder, so he has been receiving a lot of fluid through the IV for the past 24 hours to protect those organs.  This hydration will continue for another 24 hours and it is important for his kidneys to work hard to clean out all the excess fluid. The doctors weren't happy with the amount of output today, so they put Dad on medication to flush out his system.  That is keeping him fairly uncomfortable tonight.   As he just joked with me, he now knows exactly where his kidneys are and they are "singing." So while this isn't very fun, he is thankful for the medication to protect his organs and for the technology that has developed these medications to treat his cancer!

While we were envisioning this past week to be a tough one, we have learned that the longer-lasting and more brutal side effects of the heavy chemotherapy will begin to show themselves over the next few days.  Mom and Dad have been told repeatedly this week to enjoy these "good days" as they will soon be done.  As Dad's white blood cell counts start to drop, he will also gradually feel sicker and the medication won't be able to mask those symptoms nearly as well.  We do not know how Dad will react over the next few days and are quickly learning to put our anxiety and worry into the hands of our heavenly Father who does know what the next days/weeks/months hold.  He has already provided so richly for Dad and our family in the past week, and will continue to carry us on eagle's wings into the unknown.

As a family, most of us have been able to visit with Dad frequently over the past week.  As long as we are feeling healthy and have been faithful with hand washing/sanitizing, we are able to come.  At the beginning of the week, Dad was feeling well enough to come down to the cafeteria or the hospital atrium to visit with us, with his mask.  Towards the end of the week, he has been spending most of his time in his room and 1-2 of us can visit with him at a time.  It has been nice to adjust to life in the hospital with Dad feeling relatively well; it's almost as if we have eased our way into this new normal.

Tomorrow is a day of rest, both for Dad and for us.  He will not be on any chemo drugs, just fluids to continue flushing his system.  Mom will be here again with him, and they hope to listen to a sermon together online.  Again, we are so thankful for the technology that connects him not only with us as his family, but also with our broader community.  On Monday, Uncle Clarence will be here at the hospital, giving his stem cells.  Tuesday will be transplant day, or Day 0.  Please pray that this process will go well for both Dad and Clarence, and that both will be given strength and peace through all of this.  Pray that the stem cells will find a good home in Dad's marrow and that he will be able to fight well over the next few days.  Pray also for strength and peace for Mom as she daily comes here to sit with Dad and travel this journey with him.  And finally, our prayer continues to be that we will not be overwhelmed by this path the LORD has led us down but that we will find our strength in His faithfulness and grace.

Throughout the summer, we kept going to the book of Isaiah and the Psalms to find strength and courage for the days ahead.  The passage we have put on the header of this blog has been a wonderful encouragement for all of us, one we have gone back to, time and time again.  What a comfort to know that the awesome creator God who upholds the earth knows us by name and knows Dad by name.  We can travel through this trial without fear and in peace, for God holds Dad and us in His hands.  May we learn to rest more and more in this promise of our faithful, covenant God!

But now, thus says the LORD, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not for I have redeemed you!  I have called you by name; you are Mine!
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour."
Isaiah 43:1-3a.