Today marks one week in the hospital. I’ve started making it a tad cozier…put all the clothes and bags in the tiny closet, stood our books on their spines along the window ledge, as if they’re on a bookshelf, set up an icon and a lamp. It’s tolerable to spend the nights here; there’s something […]
We are waiting on so much here at the hospital…specifically for Chris’s kidney function to improve. We have an amazing nephrologist who we respect and appreciate on so many levels–we believe we are well cared for–but there is no improvement so far. We are waiting. Typing those words reminds me that as we wait on […]
Today was a different day than yesterday. It had its hardships, even some agony, but it was a different day. Chris had a successful procedure today to drain the fluid from his abdomen (3 liters worth), which I pray with all my heart affords him some relief. He also had a pigtail catheter put in […]
It’s been so long since we’ve posted. A lot has happened very quickly, and we are in great need of prayer. Chris’s condition has continued to worsen as we’ve awaited the report from California, and we realized yesterday morning after experiencing shortness of breath that he needed to go to the hospital. We learned that […]
We had an appointment today with Dr. Windsor. We knew already that there was no diagnosis yet. Last Friday Chris’s biopsy tissue was sent to a molecular lab in California to get genetically studied. It appears the pathology lab here has exhausted its resources. I asked a surgeon friend of a friend to get me […]
Monday morning before our appointment, my mom (aka Moomers) called a retired pathologist to whom she has a connection. He had offered to talk through anything that was going on. This man, Tom, listened to our situation and made it clear that he believed the pathology results for Chris should have been in long ago. […]
When despair for the world grows in meand I wake in the night at the least soundin fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,I go and lie down where the wood drakerests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.I come into the peace of wild thingswho do […]
Yesterday Chris had his CT-guided biopsy done, and apparently the doctor was able to get some good tissue samples. The procedure went quickly, the radiologist who did the procedure was very kind, as was his staff, and it felt good to have an action step to take amidst all these waiting days. I like being […]
We finally talked to our doctor today and learned that the Harvard doctor was unable to determine what type of cancer Chris has. Apparently the tissue sample wasn’t large enough to determine anything definitive. So we are where we were 10 days ago. Lord willing (cheers, Moomers), we will get another, somewhat more invasive biopsy […]
These have been heavy days. We did learn that as of Friday the stains from Chris’s biopsy are actually not lost somewhere in the stratosphere, but are finally in the hands of the pathologist here to be read. Still, we won’t be able to see our oncologist until Wednesday. The waiting has become hard. I […]
It’s Monday of the week we expect to hear the results of Chris’s biopsy, and I thought I’d hop on with some thoughts. I can’t let Chris be the only one with a platform! Many of you have expressed anxiety about this waiting period and sympathy for how hard the waiting is. Oddly, the waiting […]