April 11, 2004

Main Page • John's Journal (2000-2003) • CLL Information • Contact John • Seattle Cancer Care Alliance • MD Anderson

Happy Easter! He is Risen…He is Risen Indeed!

What a gem of a day. Started this beautiful Easter Sunday off at church with my family celebrating our Lord’s resurrection. It was a great service, filled with beautiful music and a great message about the hope we have in Christ. I will be leaning awfully hard on this hope in the weeks and months ahead. Spent the rest of the day with my family and some friends. Temperatures in the 80’s made this an absolutely beautiful Easter Sunday. Perfect day!

This was my last week at work. I am not good at good-byes. It has been extremely difficult to accept the fact that I will be gone for the rest of the year and for the first semester of next year. It really hurts to write about this. Teaching is a big part of who I am and it is very hard for me to walk away from it. I absolutely love what I do and I love the kids I work with. I am really going to miss them.

On Wednesday a group of guys who have been my students for several years spent the night at the school. We had a blast. It was a special time. Most of these students are graduating this year, so it was our last chance to all be together.

One thing I am going to do to maintain a connection with my classes is to communicate with them using Internet cameras and our computers. I will have an Internet camera in my classroom, at home, and in my apartment in Seattle. I will be able to use this equipment to communicate with my students and family on the Internet. The coolest part is that we will be able to see and hear live video of each other. I think it will be a great way to stay connected at school and at home.

My boys were on Spring Break last week. I took half the day off last Thursday and we went to the Mariner’s game. We had the most incredible seats thanks to our friends Gary and Amanda. The picture of Ichiro was taken from our seat. Pretty cool. We loved it.


Physically, I feel so good right now. On Saturday I rode my bike 30 miles, spread 10 yards of soil in my yard, and played with my boys. The good part is that I know I am going into transplant in great health. The bad part is that I know I won’t feel very good for a long time once I start the transplant. However, it is going to be worth it to achieve the ultimate goal of a cure from my Leukemia.

PRAYER REQUEST: On Thursday, results of a high-resolution DNA typing of my donor found an ‘allele mismatch’. This means my first donor is not a 10/10 match. Instead, she’s about a 9.5/10. Consequently, they are putting this donor on hold and are pursuing another donor. The transplant coordinator was hopeful that this donor would be a perfect match. If not, we will probably stick with the first donor. However, I would rather have a perfect match. Despite the current donor situation, as of Friday, I am still on schedule. I have my first pre-transplant work up appointment on Tuesday at 1pm.

In closing, I just want to say how thankful I am for all the kindness and thoughtfulness displayed by so many people. These acts of kindness always have perfect timing. Whenever I am down or discouraged, God always sends someone or something to pick me up. It’s amazing. Thank you.

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