Trying to Shine a Light

Over the course of the last several months, God has been burdening my heart for the families and the medical staff at Mott with whom Michael and I have had regular contact. So many of the families that I have met a Mott are dealing with things far worse than leukemia. I wouldn’t wish Michael’s leukemia on anyone, but the reality is that he has a very positive prognosis. The vast majority of people who get his type of leukemia beat it and go on to live productive lives. Many of the children and teens on the 7th floor of Mott have prognoses far worse than Michael’s. Many of them have very little hope for a happy ending to their story. As the Lord has given me opportunity, I have tried whenever I can to encourage those families and point them to Christ.

I also have had a number of conversations with the medical staff specifically on the inpatient side. I believe that at least two of the nurses that have cared for Michael are born again believers. And on a couple of occasions, I have been able to have some good conversations with some of the other nurses.

Unless Michael has complications with his chemo or gets a secondary infection, there are no plans for Michael to be admitted at Mott again. All of his chemo treatments at this point and in the future are outpatient. During our outpatient visits, we typically see our fellow (a doctor that is getting extra training beyond residency) and attending physician or our nurse practitioner. The Lord has been burdening me specifically for these ladies.

Everyone that we interact with on the 7th floor at Mott knows that I am a pastor. Sarah has seen Michael’s file and noticed that both of our names and occupations are listed in it. Being a good ambassador of Jesus Christ and giving those we interact with a positive view of my Savior is a high priority for me. I’m extremely careful with both what I say and how I say it. The vast majority of the staff members at Mott have been wonderful to work with. They genuinely care about Michael, and many of them seem to have taken a personal interest in him. I’ve tried to gently steer conversations toward spiritual things when I can, but because the main focus of our visits is Michael’s health, there isn’t always a lot of time for that.

Several weeks ago, I began praying about how to share the gospel specifically with Michael’s doctors. While both doctors are wonderful ladies, neither of them has ever given me any indication that they are Christians. I believe the Lord gave me the idea to write them thank you notes and include a gospel tract in the note. Two weeks ago, I was able to give each of them a thank you note with a Starbucks gift card and a gospel tract. I told them in the note that the greatest way that I could say thank you was to share with them how they could know with certainty that they were going to heaven. I told them that the tract would go into detail on that topic.

I was unsure of how the note with the gospel tract would be received. People react to the gospel differently, and I never know from one person to the next what that reaction will be. Last week, Michael was scheduled to see the nurse practitioner, and we were not expecting to see either of the doctors. However, Michael had been struggling with stomach issues and the nurse practitioner wanted to have the attending physician take a look at him. The doctor examined him and came up with a game plan to treat his stomach issues. Nothing seemed any different than any other time that she had examined him as far as her demeanor was concerned. After the visit wrapped up, and as we were leaving the room, the doctor stopped me and sincerely thanked me for the note from the previous week. We parted ways on good terms, and I am grateful that there seems to be an open door there.

The last few weeks, Michael has had good days and rough days. The first week of Delayed Intensification (DI) has been the most difficult thus far. On his rough days, he dealt with fatigue, headaches and stomach issues. On his good days he was his normal self. That first week of DI was split about 50/50 between good days and rough days. The second week, he seemed to do much better. We were able to get his stomach issues resolved and he seemed to have more good days than rough days. Toward the end of the week, he came down with a stuffy nose and a sore throat. While he is still dealing with some congestion, the sore throat seems to be gone.

Michael’s bloodwork numbers have remained very strong, much stronger than we anticipated. DI is kind of a combination of the first two (and most difficult) courses of chemo that he went through last winter-spring. However, he seems to be handling this course much better than the first two. As I look at it, I see three possible reasons for this. First, when Michael started chemo back at the end of January, his immune system had already been decimated by leukemia. That is not the case this time around. Second, he is coming off a course of immunotherapy that has turbocharged his immune system. He started DI with his numbers at a record high for him. Even after two weeks of DI his numbers remain in the ranges that one would expect in a normal, healthy person. Third, he is not being given CALPEG this time around. CALPEG is the drug that he was given once in each of his first two courses of chemo and that ultimately resulted in him getting pancreatitis. As I have stated in previous posts, CALPEG is an absolute monster, and I believe it wreaked quite a bit of havoc on Michael’s immune system.

Tuesdays are typically pretty rough for Michael, but today was an unexpectedly good day for him. He was able to do some schoolwork and go shoot his hunting rifle in preparation for opening day of Michigan’s gun season for deer on Saturday. He will get a week off chemo next week, before starting the second half of DI, Lord willing, on November 24th. If things go according to schedule, finish the week before Christmas. We look forward to that day.