“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23
Have you ever been more tired than you ever thought possible? A kind of tired that sleep doesn’t fix. A tired that can almost feel suffocating. Where just to sit up in bed and eat a few bites of a meal is a huge effort. Well, that’s where Dave is at right now, but we are learning to be okay with that. The doctors are telling us that Dave’s body is working really hard at getting better and integrating the new stem cells. And they are telling us that he is right where he should be in the process.
There are many things to be thankful for. At this point, there are no infections or fevers. The nausea is manageable with medication. The pain, for the most part, is also being managed with medication. The confusion and hallucinations Dave was experiencing seem to be gone. Wow! Those are all such good things, and huge answers to all of our prayers.
Things to pray for:
- Because Dave’s white blood cell count is down to 0.1, he is very susceptible to infections.
- An expected side effect in the coming days is mucositis (mouth and esophagus sores). Let’s pray it doesn’t happen.
- Please pray that in the next couple weeks Paul’s stem cells start taking over, growing strong, and fighting any remaining leukemia cells.
- Please pray against any rejection of the new stem cells.
- Please pray against discouragement and for patience and perseverance with the necessary process.
Thank you for all of your prayers. Thank you for the words of love and encouragement you are sending us on this blog. You may not realize what a difference your encouragement means from inside the four walls of this hospital room. There are days when those words are our life-line to the outside world. There are times when your words of encouragement are what help us to focus back on the power and love of God instead of the circumstances.
We are depending on the new mercies that God offers each and every day. Because of those mercies, we will get there!
The Stoeckleins