Hanging on every word the doctor says and searching her eyes for the things she isn’t saying. That’s where we live on Tuesdays. So much pressure for her and incredible uncertainty for us. As she peers at the computer screen, assessing the numerical results of brain fluid, blood, and bone marrow, we wait in anticipation of what she’s going to say. It’s exhausting. And then it’s exhilarating when the report is good.
The words for today are: “pleasantly surprised.” Dr. Linhares said, “You don’t fail to pleasantly surprise me!”(You have to imagine those words said with a Russian accent – it sounds beautiful!) Dave is in a much better place than she expected him to be two months after second relapse in the brain. Based on the most sensitive tests she could run, there are no signs of leukemia in Dave’s blood or brain. And the MRI showed no sign of leukemia in his spine. Today was a day of good news.
For these things we are incredibly grateful to God. He is the creator and keeper of life and we are completely in His hands. I don’t know how you get good at living in this place, facing down the giant (leukemia), but hopefully we are learning. Every day we depend on God for strength and every day we ask Him to teach us how to live victorious, joy-filled, and strong.
Please continue to pray for Dave. He is still very weak,
- Please pray that he begins to feel well enough to get back to physical therapy so that he can regain the strength and leg movement he had been able to achieve.
- Please pray the chemo continues to keep the leukemia and philadelphia chromosome away.
- Please pray for continued wisdom for the doctors.
- Pray for emotional and spiritual strength for Dave to be able tackle the daunting task of working back to strength.
We are learning to trust God in His purposes that we cannot see. We are learning to be pleasantly surprised by God’s goodness and mercy in each and every day, in the good things and in the difficult.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1
Thank you, God! You are the One pleasantly surprising us all!
Carol Stoecklein