Yesterday, I got good news regarding the protein test that measures the cancer I’m fighting. I went into the transplant with a count of 4.6, which is pretty high. In the thirty days since transplant, the number has dropped to .7, which has excited all the doctors and nurses (and us). Also, the cardiologist feels like my heart is rebounding, so he has taken me off everything but one pill a day. I know you will want to praise God for these things and we humbly thank you for praying so much for us. Around the 100 day mark, another protein blood test will be taken and a bone marrow biopsy will reveal if any cancer is in the bone marrow.
Susan and I met a young couple last week who are about to go through the same thing we have. He was diagnosed with lymphoma a month before they were to get married. They delayed the wedding a few weeks, did a couple of rounds of chemo, then got married. She is a beautiful twenty-five year old Georgia native taking care of a strong twenty-six year old husband from South Carolina. He is athletic, a bit defiant, and determined to get through this stem cell transplant as quick as he can. I pray he does… with no setbacks.
Susan thought I was prepared for my second transplant. I was stronger than before, more experienced, and less beaten down by drugs. But from the first day in the hospital, everything seemed to go in unexpected directions: the catheter they put in my chest would not stop bleeding (they removed it a week later), I developed pneumonia (which lasted a couple of weeks), I started coughing up blood (which lasted about a month), and fluid built up in my body to the point that my heart could not handle the load (causing my blood pressure to run extremely high). I can’t count on one hand how many times I heard a doctor or nurse say, “I’ve never seen this happen before.” (Not exactly what a patient wants to hear:) So what do you do when you think you’re prepared, but reality proves otherwise.
Lying in the hospital, I sometimes wonder about preparations that are far more important than health. Jesus often said, “Be prepared; you don’t know when I am going to return.” He tells us to “watch and pray” and to be ready. I can say “I’m ready” based on my feelings or what other people might tell me. But Jesus is the one who knows and He eagerly invites the courageous, humble one to ask what He sees. In a parable, ten virgins waited for the Bridegroom, but only five were prepared with the oil required. The five who had to run to town to make a purchase were called ‘foolish’ because they could not enter the feast. Who is foolish today? Are there wise ones treasuring the things of the Spirit as they watch for their Master?
Humility requires that if we go to Jesus and He points out our errors we must quickly repent and ask Him to supply what we lack. “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” (Revelation 3:17-19)
When teachers say, “Be prepared for your test tomorrow,” good students heed the warning. When coaches spend a week preparing for Friday’s game, the players know it is serious. When a doctor tells a person how to prepare for an upcoming surgery, the wise patient follows directions. But what do we do with Jesus’ words?
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Matthew 24:42-44