Author Archive: Jeffrey D. Cole

Great Expectations?

To borrow a quote from another Dickens’ novel, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”1   He was writing about the period leading up to the French Revolution, but I might well describe this time in…
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There is a Reason

I remember sitting in my office after working out, just a few months after my Dad passed away from lung cancer.  The last year had been rough.  I had been home from Iraq less than a year when Christi and I…
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Another Detour

What started as a seemingly harmless cough over the weekend now has me admitted back into the hospital.  During my scheduled visit on Monday, the biggest concern was a growing skin rash that is attributed to GVHD.  I did mention…
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Cautious Optimism

If I had been given the chance to write my own leukemia story, I don’t think I could have scripted a better narrative about the three weeks since the transplant.  I might have stretched a little and wrote a story…
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Paroled

I got out of the hospital about noon last Wednesday, February 5, 2014.  I was in exactly three weeks, including only two weeks post-transplant.  This is such an incredible blessing since I was told to expect to be in four…
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Twice Ransomed

How would you feel about someone if he saved your life?  What if you didn’t even know him?  He is completely anonymous.  The only things you know about him are his age, gender, and blood type.  Even more so, how…
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Humbled Again

I never really did like group physical training (PT).  Part of the reason is that I often felt I could push myself harder alone and therefore make better use of my time.  That wasn’t the case in Airborne and Air…
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Thankful

It’s hard to feel thankful when you’re throwing up into a tub for the umpteenth time.  In fact, it’s hard to feel anything other than miserable.  Add to that headaches, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and swollen, infected ears, and “miserable”…
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I Am a New Creation

 Happy birthday to me!  A few of you who know my actual birthday are confused right now.  Maybe it’s the medication, you’re thinking.  No, Happy Second Birthday to me!  We’re celebrating the day, January 22, 2014, that I received my…
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Quick Update

I don’t have the energy for a full post.  Some family and friends don’t have Facebook, so this is my way of communicating to them. The transplant is scheduled for 8 or 9 pm, depending on when the cells get…
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