2-14-03 Journal Entry
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Happy Valentine’s Day! Enjoyed a fun day at work today. Classes went great and ended the day with a fun assembly complete with Elvis impersonators and a hilarious dating game. Teaching high school is such a blast. After work I stopped in to have my blood checked. It has been ten days since my last treatment and the doctor needs to see how my blood counts have responded to the recent treatment. The good news is that my WBC count was at 2.8, neutrophils at 58% and lymphocytes at 34%. (in the past months my lymphcytes have always been much higher than the neutrophils, indicating active leukemia) These are pretty normal numbers which indicate the cancer cells are being destroyed and I am responding well to treatment. The bad news is the chemo has brought my hematocrit down to 26%. Normal is 36%. As a result, I had to go right to the hospital to get a couple units of blood via a transfusion. Not the ideal way to spend a Friday night on Valentines Day, but I don’t want to be walking around with a hematocrit that low. I could start having some complications such as nose bleeds, passing out, etc.
The transfusion went well. I was able to get both pints in three hours, allowing me to get home by 10:30. A couple of my buddies, Brad and Jeff sat with me during the transfusion, making the time go much faster as we shared some good laughs. (Thanks guys.) While we were talking we were startled by a loud thud out in the hallway. Sadly, my nurse tripped over a patient’s catheter and went down pretty hard. She ended up having to go to the emergency room. I never did ask what happened to the patient’s catheter. Ouch!
Have a week off next week as my school district has mid-winter break. Looking forward to some time to catch up on things and spend some time with my family. This weekend, however, we split up as I go to Portland with CJ for a basketball tournament and Michelle stays here to coach Tanners basketball team and watch Kyler as he plays in a basketball tournament up in Seattle. It’s just a basketball weekend. We have a lot of those.
Been reading a book by Lisa Beamer, the wife of Bob Beamer, one of the heroes who lost his life on the flight that went down on 9-11. Obviously, she has suffered great loss in the loss of her husband. She also lost her father suddenly when she was a teenager. Despite her great losses, she has an inspiring faith. I just wanted to end my journal today by sharing a couple passages from the book that have stuck with me lately.
“Many people look for miracles – things that in their human minds “fix” a difficult situation. Many miracles, however, are not a change to the normal course of human events; they’re found in God’s ability and desire to sustain and nurture people through even the worst situations. Somewhere along the way, I stopped demanding that God fix the problems in my life and started to be thankful for his presence as I endured them.”
“I hate this, but I don’t want to waste this. I really want to learn what I’m supposed to get out of this…I made a conscious decision to stop questioning God and start trusting Him.”