Bumps In The Road

We have had some bumps in the road over the last couple of days. Nick and I went back to Vanderbilt for his scheduled chemo on Friday. It was supposed to be a series of short doctor's visits and them an hour or so of chemo infusion. He was also supposed to have his PICC line removed and have this coming week "off" of treatment. Instead we started the day with his blood pressure dangerously high and some factors in his blood dangerously low. I am very thankful for the attentive staff at Vanderbilt! He got the needed attention and medication, but could not have the PICC line removed because of the danger of uncontrollable bleeding. The stay that we expected to be an hour or so turned into about 9 hours.

He is doing well today. We just have to keep a close eye on a few things. Please continue to agree in prayer with us that life is in his blood. We are scheduled to go back next Friday for another lumbar puncture and another bone marrow biopsy. His labs will have to rebound before he can continue with the prescribed protocol.
I don't think that I have shared before that this is supposed to be a 3 year process of chemotherapy. It will not always be as intensive as it is now, but the long and short of it is that this adventure is a marathon. There will be times within the next three years when life will seem normal again, but we are told that in order to have a sure cure we must endure the entire 3 years...and we WILL endure!

Just to share a bit of my perspective on this...I know that God did NOT create this sickness. I firmly believe that He has allowed it, and that He will give us everything that we need in order to not only endure to the end, but to come out victorious with a powerful testimony of His faithfulness. Knowing that God knew our end from before the foundation of the earth, I can see two major ways that He was preparing me for this adventure. The first thing is that I completely lost the grace and desire to run my business at the end of last year. I felt like He began telling me a couple of years ago that my business would be ending, but I knew that it was time last December. I stopped taking new clients last fall, and I am almost finished with all of my projects now. If I had not stopped taking clients when I did, my attention would be so divided now. I would not have the complete freedom to focus on Nick. The second thing is that I applied and was accepted to nursing school last January. The classes that I have already taken have given me the knowledge to understand and converse intelligently with the medical professionals with which we are dealing now.

I am so thankful that when our hearts are turned towards God, He leads us in and out of decisions that we have no idea will be integral parts of our futures. Please know that He has known your end from before your beginning...and all the parts in between. If you are wondering about which way to go; which decision is right; what do you do next...the answer is to find out where the peace is. The directions that God leads us in do not always make sense. In fact, they hardly ever do at the time. However, if it is the direction of God there will always be a peace...many times an inexplicable peace. Dare to go the way of peace...not necessarily reason. It is well.

Zumbathon