Hospital

I am officially in the hospital, it was a little tough, but all your prayers, and those quick breath prayers, "God give me strength" does wonders.

Shini, my nurse, started early, 4 a.m. She hooked one of my three lumen's to Busulfan for a 45 minute trial run to see how my system would metabolize the chemo. Two phlebotomist drew blood; one out of the central line on my left side, and one out of the peripheral line on my right side. Over the course of today I will get my blood drawn at least 10 times. God has blessed me with caring nurses, and staff to take care of me.

After the procedure was over, I was reading my "comfort cards*". I also have the note cards, Beth Moore instructed us to make during our bible study of Ester, last fall. Number 5 spoke to me "It's tough being a women...in the tight fist of fear.....Remember you're in something much tighter, 'See I have engraved you (Debi, and every Christ follower) on the palms of my Hands.'" Isaiah 49:16 PTL, what mighty hands those must be!!!

To everyone that will meeting at Bible Study in the morning, I will miss you and I will be praying for God to bring anew His word. Dea thank you for all you do facilitating the group. I will be there in the fall.

*comfort cards are index cards that I have written comfort scriptures on, and put my name on them to personalize them.

European Spa Vacation

I spoke to the head honcho in charge of my European Spa Experience, his name is Dr. Ciurea, and I highly, recommend him. Late on Sunday, January 24th, I will check into my all expense paid :) luxury room, and begin a hydration drip. Monday they will give me small doses of the chemical cocktail to see how my body metabolizes the mixture. Tuesday is a rest day, I'm sure they have a massage, pedicure, and manicure planned for me (Missing you guys at Holden & Co)...
The real fun starts Wednesday the 27th, I get the chemical cocktail full blast until Saturday,the 30th of January. They said it would do wonders for my skin, but I'm not sure they have the same goal in mind, because several of the people who are here at the spa, have a pale yellow look about them. Maybe the pale yellow look is going to be in the year.
There has been some discussion about my hair, so they decided to add a little something and let it fall out and start over, they seem to think that "dirty brown-gray" look will really be the color for me.
Sunday, the 31st, being a day of rest, they have decided to let me rest. They are going to add Monday for good measure. Tuesday, February 2nd, I will take the treatment they are known for, the stem cell transplant, after all the other treatments, it might seem a little anti climatic; it will take roughly 45 minutes. BTW, they have a novel way for weight lost, they are mouth and throat sores, who knew.....
All in all I give this "hotel" 5 stars;

Did I mention Tests????

Admission to MDA requires lots of tests. Quickly your days become very focused on names of test, acronyms that stand for test, and things you do, and do not have in, or on your body. So when the nurse asked "Do you have a cat?" (for the record I don't) My mind searched all my databases, which I must admit are very few these days, and for the life of me could not come up with a test, or an appendage that matched that description. I managed a "I'm sorry." She repeated herself, "Do you have a cat?" Again the search of my mind did not return any matches. I was forced to admit I had no idea what test or body part she was referring to. She laughed and pointed to my hand. Sure enough there was a long scratch on my hand, that had showed up sometime over the last 2 days in my moving around. She said, "an animal,........ a cat scratch."

I started laughing.......Sometimes I can have such a blonde moment.

Encounters

Sitting in the Gazebo, on the third floor of MD Anderson, watching the rain softly falling; I thought about moments earlier when I had gotten on the elevator on the forth floor, a young women asked me what floor, and I told her the 3rd. The door closed and she looked at me, beginning to cry and said, "my day is not good", "my mother won't be with us long!" You know that if you never understand the reason you are in the position you are in, at that moment you reach out to a total stranger/friend, and you feel her pain. In the 45 seconds it took to reach my floor and the elevator door opened, I told her that I would be praying for her and I would pray for her mother.

Mighty God, Maker of heaven and earth, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Wrap your loving arms around this young women and her mother. Give her Your peace. You alone decides when our time on earth is finished and eternity begins. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen


Please pray for my new friend.......

Thank you

Wheels down we have landed in Houston. We being my brother Gary, and myself. Gary is my donor, he is also the youngest of my siblings. Who knew when we were teenagers giving each other the usual sibling grief, that he would in essence save my life. How do you thank someone for that, you can't....I am truly blessed, my family is the greatest, I love you, Gary.

Bad Things happen to Good People or Things happen to God's People

Sunday morning Pastor Rick Bezet referred to the statement that some people get hung up on, "Why do bad things happen to Good People?" He took exception with the words, "good people," using the Bible verse Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good—only God. Luke 18:19 (The Message). His point, as I understood it, no one is good, we are defective people saved by God's incredible grace.
As a Christ Followers are there really any bad things? In Romans 8:28 (The Message) says That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. That's why I know that a stem cell transplant will turn out to be a good thing........

God willing, until tomorrow

I don't need any details

The phone call actually caught me off guard, I had gone to my Nurse Practitioner, the day before and been given medication for what I convinced myself was the problem. It was not to be. My friend called,"go to the hospital," she said "they are expecting you; you're not depressed; your hemoglobin is 5.8." So began a new journey....... So many words to learn, Myelodysplastic Syndrome, MDS for short, formerly known as preleukemia. For the last nine months its been all about counts, red, white,and platelets... but what an adventure I have been on, God is so good, He has been with me each step of the way.
Monday, January 11, 2010, I begin the life saving treatment of a stem cell transplant at MD Anderson, Houston, TX. This blog will be about my journey.....my husband sometimes say to me, "I don't need to know any details", so my hope is that I will not get mired down in the details, but leave you with the hope and peace I feel because God loves you and me; and He hears our prayers and I am living proof of those prayers.

God willing, until tomorrow.....