Last week Donn and I were sitting in bed reading in the middle of a storm when suddenly the power went off. We were both reading on devices that aren’t affected by that so we continued to read until it was time to sleep. The power came back on at 5:00 a.m.—no problem.
We had an easy week so I didn’t need to set my Dream Machine that wakes us to music each time I set an alarm. However, on Tuesday morning, Chemo day, August 22, we needed to get up for an early appointment with my oncologist at Hillman Cancer Center in New Castle, so I needed to set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. Since the power had been out, the alarms had automatically reset to 12:00, so I reset everything on Monday night to be sure we’d be wakened at 6:00 a.m. Still I felt uneasy as I stared at my dream machine.
When Donn asked me what was wrong, I said, “I don’t know. I guess I’m uneasy because I had to reset everything on my dream machine because of the power being off, and I’m worried that I may not have set it right.”
Donn grabbed his small, uncomplicated alarm clock that he had used once since the power outage the previous week. “Here, I’ll set mine for 6:05.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and turned out the light.
On Tuesday morning at 6:05 a.m., Donn’s alarm beeped repeatedly—the dream machine hadn’t come on! I was so thankful that the Holy Spirit had stirred the uneasiness in me and that Donn had so promptly set his alarm as a back up. I only see my oncologist periodically and if a person is more than 15 minutes late, one has to reschedule. I’ve never had to do that, but I’m sure it isn’t easy.
Things went well with my doctor appointment. As always she was a blessing and was amazed that I still have my hair, although it’s thinning. Then we went happily on our way to Annie’s POD where we are nearly always scheduled. No one else was in the room, so we talked a bit with Annie about some of the challenges in her life. We appreciate her so much and always try to be a blessing to her, too.
When more people came into Annie’s POD, the lady nearest us started telling us that she has a grandson with special needs. She said it has taken a lot of prayer to get him ready for third grade. My ears pricked up at that, and I shared our daughter’s challenging job as a special education emotional needs support teacher and the prayers needed.
The lady told us more about her situation and how she leans on God. I added, “So often I say, ‘What would we do without Jesus?’ She agreed wholeheartedly and again I marveled at how quickly Christian bonds are formed in this sunlit POD in the Cancer Center.
When my new friend left for a meeting (she had accompanied an older lady to HCC that day), Annie and I started talking about my hair. She said she has another woman who will be having exactly the same chemo I am, and she’s been telling her that I haven’t lost my hair yet. I said, “No, but it’s thinning, so I decided to look for a ‘schloaf kapp’ like we wore when I was a little girl to keep my hair from getting all over our pillows!”
Annie looked puzzled so I reminded her of my Mennonite upbringing by parents who had grown up Old Order Amish and that my first language was Pennsylvania Dutch. Then I told her, “I decided to look for a sleep cap online. They came yesterday, so I wore one for the first time last night. It seemed to help a lot, and I didn’t seem to lose as much hair when I combed my hair this morning.”
Since I have just three more chemo treatments, I’m hoping to get through this without having my head shaved, but I have a wig I can wear if I need it.
I laughed as I told Annie, “Most of my friends say, ‘Oh, you still have your hair!’ but our six-year-old granddaughter, Sarah, is embarrassed if my scalp shows and says, ‘Oh, Grandma, your hair! Your hair!’ so I try to keep my scalp covered!”
After a busy day of shopping while we were out and about after my chemo treatment, Donn and I went for a walk on Tuesday evening as we try to do every night. When we started walking again after my surgery, we changed our usual route because I needed to be more careful of my left knee. It had been giving me a lot of trouble before my surgery, and I didn’t want it to flare up again. Also, I’m still trying to regain my strength from my surgery/chemo. I didn’t have the strength to do our usual route.
We had no idea that God would use this change of route to bring a new neighbor into our lives that we’d never met before. . As our path has crossed with our new neighbor every day, I’ve had no doubt that God is in it. Next week, I want to tell you about Joyce.
Thank you, Father, for the many ways you intervene in our lives in ways both large and small. If the hairs of our heads are all numbered, how can we doubt that you care about every detail of our lives? Amen.
HEALTH UPDATE
I’m happy to report that my heart settled down a great deal even before the change in steroids was made this past Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Also, Tuesday night, the night I usually lose a lot of sleep because of steroids, I slept until 5:00 a.m. instead of 3:00 as I usually do. I might have been able to go back to sleep if I hadn’t needed to get up to answer nature’s call.
My leg, which had already looked much better, is even more improved, almost normal, after five more days of a different antibiotic prescribed by Kristen, my PCP. I continue to be so blessed by the care I receive from her and her male nurse, Richard. Kristen had asked me to let her know if my leg was getting better or worse with the change in antibiotics, so I called and left a message on the nurse’s line for her. Richard called back specifically because Kristen wanted to know if I had been able to have chemo the previous week. They are so good at letting me know they really care. I’m so thankful as I am to all of you for your faithful prayers!