August 3,2010 First Day at Camp

Dear Ones,

I will try to keep you updated while Dick is getting use to his new cabin and counsellors. He lucked out in getting some really cute and delightful nurses, so I think his letters home may be limited and very short. Too much to do to keep him busy.

Katie and I have decided the process getting him into the campsite was probably harder than the transplant itself- to begin on Thursday and again on Friday. We were finally called that a bed was available at 2:30 PM having been told to be ready early in the morning of the 2ND. He was to have that central line checked and probably replaced. Being the nurse that I am I had him NPO(no food) since midnight so he would have no trouble with anesthesia. Well, we waited and waited and then we were called. When we got there admitting said he had no bed. Since "bed management" had called us but not admitting, we had to wait another 45min. and then when finally transported the paper work had us in the wrong unit. Again being the nurse I said we would go to the right unit no matter what and they would be there waiting. Well, they knew we were to be there but the room still was not ready. Anyway we were sent to xray to check the line and yes it was in the wrong position and the reason we had 12 days of problems getting the blood out and flushing it. So another line was put in and the poor guy didn't get any dinner until 8PM.

We truly bless the Lord for giving us peace through it all and allowing our joy to remain. We really overdid the camp thing just to keep our spirits up and I think the nurses think we are rather crazy. But we did alot of laughing and tucked him into bed for an evening of the first round of chemo, blood draws, lots of ice to chew to keep the mouth very wet and not to have the mucous membranes in his mouth to start breaking down.

Katie and I went in this morning around 8 and he was awake and finishing breakfast.. Since he had little sleep and gets preventive meds to keep down the nausea, he was dozing off and on but in good spirits. Apparently the real strong side effects come after the transplant and the cells begin to take hold. Not quite sure of all the physiology but we are praying for minimum side effects. The amazing news was that he was able to produce 10 million stem cells and they usually hope for 3 to 5 million. The Lord is certainly providing ,as a man his age,71, usually doesn't get that many. As I recall Moses didn't start out on his journeys until he was much older and you know about Abraham.

The other interesting bit about all this is that all the information we were given before hand about the unit and isolation is out dated. We do not have to mask, gown, or glove. All the detailed preparation they said to get his clothes clean, put in a hot dryer and into plastic bags is no more.
The nurses were aghast at all the preparation so I gave them the manual to review and there are going to be some new instructions. The xray instructions were also out dated and they don't do general anesthesia. In fact he barely had any and it was very painful. Again I have to give God the glory because my usual MO would have been to hit the roof but He gave me great peace and calm which had to be Him.

In spite of the glitches we do feel blessed that we have the facilities and procedures available as well as a sense of the Lord's 24/7 Presence. My heart goes out to the many,many wearied, sad, angry, and lost people we see around us. If they just knew how loving and willing our Lord Jesus is to gather them up and do for them what He is doing and will do for us.

Again, thank you all for the prayers, calls, and cards. You are what God calls the Body of Christ and have kept us enveloped in His grace.
In His love,
Amy

THE FIRST ATTEMPT

This is the first time at trying this blogging thing and I hope it works. Dick and I have been so impressed with Becky's presentations that I have been inspired to try my hand at this. I will fiddle with all the tabs and see what happens.