Thanksgiving

I have this bobblehead on my bookshelf at work. Cal Ripken was one of the great players of his generation, putting together a Hall of Fame career that included two Most Valuable Player awards and nineteen All Star Game appearances. Perhaps even more than for his considerable ability though, Ripken is famous for having played in a record 2,632 consecutive games without ever taking a day off. The previous record of 2,310 set by Lou Gehrig had stood for over 66 years, and it was universally assumed that it would never be broken--until Ripken broke it. 

I thought of Ripken this week for a couple of reasons:

1. Ripken wore uniform number eight. Jack has spent the week at the hospital receiving a heavy dose of chemo. It’s his eighth time being admitted to the hospital since he was diagnosed in June.      
2. In the same way that Ripken was renowned for his resilience and toughness, and his willingness and ability to go to battle, so Jack has demonstrated similar traits in his fight with leukemia. 

And so, as Thanksgiving morning arrives and finds my wife and son at the hospital, with my daughter and me at home. I am thankful that I have a son who is able to go to war with this dreaded disease, and is strong enough and tough enough to eventually come out the other side a victor. 

But my thankfulness extends far beyond that. I am also thankful for many other reasons...

• Thankful that I have a wife that loves our family so much that she would willingly deprive herself the comfort and convenience of her own bed night after night in order to be on hand to help care for our son in the hospital
• Thankful that I have a daughter who has graciously and selflessly taken extra things upon herself to help our family, never once complaining about the deserved attention from her parents of which she is no doubt being deprived
• Thankful that Jack is being cared for by doctors and nurses who are incredibly skilled and wonderfully kind
• Thankful that so many friends and family (and even formerly complete strangers, for that matter) have loved us so well and prayed for us so consistently
• Thankful that Jack hopefully will be coming home today (if all goes as planned)
• And most of all, thankful that the Lord is a God of steadfast love who has faithfully shepherded us through this so far, and who (I am sure) will continue to do so  

UPDATE: Jack is home as of late afternoon. We are thankful indeed.

Finally!

Each of the past three weeks, we've taken Jack in for his next round of chemo. Each of the past three weeks, his counts have been too low to proceed with treatment. 

 

Finally, today though, his counts are high enough! As a result, Jack is settled in at Hurley for the next three to four days for a pre-Turkey Day appetizer of high-dose methotrexate. We’d really appreciate prayers for a quick stay with few side effects and no mouth sores.

Third Time's a Charm?

The last two Tuesdays, Jack has been scheduled to start round two of chemo in this phase of his treatment. Both times though, his levels did not met the requisite standard to endure chemo. The first Tuesday, his platelets were low. The second one, his platelets were fine, but his ANC (which, of course, was fine the first try) was too low.

Tomorrow he will give it a third shot. Please be praying that Jack's levels all would be fine, and that he would be able to move forward with this next round.

Happy Birthday!

It’s our Jack’s 19th birthday today and we are so incredibly proud of the man God is shaping him to be. This past year we have run the gamut of emotions, from the mountaintop of senior year and graduation to the depths of cancer and chemotherapy. Jack has continually shown a strength of character to push through suffering, that frankly takes our breath away. We are so very thankful for Jack and continue to praise God for his past, his present and his future.