The airport is awfully busy for 5:30 am. I’m waiting to catch my flight at Bush Intercontinental Airport just north of Houston. This will close out my fifth trip to Houston. Wish I could say “fifth and final…”, but alas I have several more ahead of me.
It is getting a little easier to travel. For starters, I’m feeling better than the last couple of times I flew home. In December my skin was burned to a crisp from the radiation I received to my brain and spine. Last month, my medicine and eye problems combined to make me feel pretty rough. This morning, however, I’m feeling well enough to enjoy a triple grande latte from Starbucks (2/3 decaf, I am ashamed to say) as I wait for my flight. I also checked in using my phone and have only a carry on, which makes things much faster and easier.
The Biopsy
I should be feeling well after the news I got yesterday. The initial results of my bone marrow biopsy show only 2% blasts (anything less that 5% is considered normal). This means that I’m still in remission, praise God! There is some concern with elevated liver enzymes (GVHD can attack the liver and other organs, not just the skin and eyes). So I had an ultrasound and will make adjustments to my medicine. My doctors think this is caused by drug toxicity, not GVHD, so that’s encouraging.
The biopsy went well enough. It wasn’t the worst, or the easiest. My executioner wasn’t able to draw enough marrow from my pelvis in the first spot she tried, so she had to bore into my bone a second time to get a large enough sample. There is only one hole in my skin but two in my bone. The site is more painful than previous biopsies, as you can imagine.
I usually have the same nurse each time, although different physician’s assistants perform the procedure. My nurse is sweet and always encouraging. She remembers me as the “guy with the cute kids and beautiful wife.” I’ll take that any day. Of course, I’m obliged to show her recent pictures of my family as my chest swells with pride.
Prayer Works
The procedure room is the nurse’s domain. She has a few personal items on the wall and usually plays some relaxing music. She also posted this about eye level of the patients as they lay on the table.
It does. So do Xanax and Lidocaine, frankly, but medication isn’t always an option since I need an escort to take responsibility for me in the drug-induced fogginess that follows. The medication covers some of the pain for a while, but doesn’t really change anything. Prayer does.
In addition to prayer, I use distraction, steady breathing, and medication to get through the biopsy. All those things are good in this sense, but misapplied distraction and medication can lead to disaster. There is no lasting peace or resolution to come from either, yet so many of us turn to those things.
I’m guilty of forgetting my problems through distraction. Dwelling on such things isn’t a solution either, but some distraction for a time is beneficial. But when the movie goes off or the book is finished, the problems remain. There is no healing in forgetting about your wounds. There is no forgiveness in pretending an offense didn’t happen.
Prayer works. It changes things. We don’t always get the immediate answer or relief that we seek, but God hears every prayer and never turns a deaf ear. Some times His timing is different than our expectations. Some times it seems as if He doesn’t listen to us. But, He promises in his Word that we will receive what we ask for, if we just believe. Not only do I believe His word, but the Lord has proven this to be true time and time again over the last year. Prayer works. God listens. Just believe.
“I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. (Mark 11:24 NLT)