Finally, All Went Well!

(Sorry this post is late. My blog was down/server down for a while.)

At last, I have NOTHING STRANGE TO REPORT this time! Yay for stuff being regular!

Bill got his Gemzar on Thursday and his Cisplatin on Friday and NOTHING WAS BIZARRE!

Part of the reason is that he has missed a bunch of chemotherapies in a row due to blood problems, so it was something like three weeks since he'd had a dose, and his body finally was able to bounce back and was completely normal.

So we were able to start wrecking it again. Hmmmm. Zat how it's s'posed to go?

WHAT BILL IS HAPPIEST ABOUT

He is the most proud of the fact that he finished the semester of teaching yesterday (last exam given). He said it was one of the hardest things he has ever done, showing up for all those classes throughout the diagnosis of cancer, and the cancer problems at the beginning, and then throughout all the chemotherapy and side effects. He even went to every class when he was instructed not to go anywhere near crowds, and was nauseated, exhausted, in pain, and even bleeding. He had every excuse to stay home, but he showed up and taught.

He's like a war hero! I wish I had a little medal I could give him. Maybe I'll buy him a cowboy badge in the toy section of Walmart, and he can wear that for a while. But all kidding aside, what he did was a magnificent testament to who he really is, and was a truly courageous thing.

And as they say, courage can only exist in the presence of fear. So that's one up side of being afraid. It allows you the chance to demonstrate courage. And Bill truly did.

COMING UP NEXT

Monday and Tuesday he has Neupogen shots. They cause him SEVERE pain during the night, and we're both scared about that. This Sunday night, he will probably have flu symptoms, fever, body aches, nausea. And theoretically, next Thursday, he will get another dose of Gemzar, the not-so-bad drug.

But soon we call the surgeon at Duke and schedule his surgery. It will be in early March. Bill says he is the most afraid of the surgery, more than of any other part of this experience. He said he is worried he won't survive it, since it is 8 hours long, 12 days in the hospital, and he is 66 and it's such a dramatic type of surgery. So I try to help by finding comforting statistics for him and assure him that all the prayers and love are going to see him through.

THANK YOU SO UNBELIEVABLY MUCH for the prayers and notes and cards and emails and home made soup and new laugh-intensive friendships and invitations, and yesterday a certain ANGEL gave us a Poinsettia, to top it all off. You can't BELIEVE how much comfort and joy we get from your love. I mean, it's life changing.

As for me, I'm working hard to keep myself cheerful. Not that easy since I can't walk in the woods or garden in winter. This week, I'm making a bunch of papier mache bad-art-looking creatures and painting them weird colors. I'm calling them Ugly Loveables, and each one has a name. So far, Calvin is a messed-up looking way-too-thin dinosaur who is black with orange and red and green spots and a totally screwed up tail. And Wedgewood is a silver genetic-accident-looking thing with a string tail and big ears. And a couple other little guys who look like they attended a nuclear accident or two. But they make me laugh. That's sayin somethin.

Thank you and thanks especially to God who has blessed us so profoundly through all of you.

Love,
Beth