good news (with strings attached...)

Today's good news came with a condition: we may be able to go home on Thursday (!!)  IF Noah starts to get some more nutrition into him.  The Doctor said they are considering an NG tube, but Noah doesn't want one.  I would be ok with it, and Tom says go for it, but Noah is strongly opposed.  So we had a talk, and he has promised to drink at least 2 bottles of Boost Plus Calories per day, and try to eat a little.  That should get him close to 800-900 claories a day, which is a big step up for him. He is now down to 31.9 kg which is below the weight at which he was admitted, but he still has about 2 L of fluid, or 2 Kg to go.  This means he has lost 2kg of his own body weight that he has to build up again.  They would like him to start now.  The trouble is Noah doesn't want to eat, and although his fluids are no longer restricted (YAY!!!!) that doesn't mean he can go overboard and drink like crazy.  He is still quite thirsty, and I am still insisting he drink a lot of Boost, but I really wish he would just eat, then he could drink all the juice he wants...

The other concern now is what to do about his chemo.  He will be three weeks behind in his treatment, and they would like to get going on that ASAP.  But his liver is still not quite up to snuff, I don't think.  His own Doctor has been away, but he came back today.  All the Oncology docs get together on Monday afternoons and talk about all the most concerning cases and apparently, in the meeting Dr. Davis didn't quite know what to do exactly and decided to sleep on it.  He will come and talk to us about it sometime tomorrow.  He may say come back after the weekend to start the chemo he missed, or he may say we can stay a week to have a break and just start at the next phase.  We will see.  I am pretty sure that because Noah is behind we will be spending a shorter time at home this time to make up for it.  Sigh. 

We (Tom and I) are getting tired of this being apart stuff.  It feels in some ways like the past eight months have flown by, but in some respects, it seems so long. It is getting harder and harder to leave home to come back here.  It almost seems cruel to only let us go back for the weekend! Or not really worth it, maybe we should just stay and get this long time over with...  I don't know. 

All I do know is that whatever happens we can trust that it is in God's plan and it will be the best thing in the end.  We don't have the whole picture in front of us, but He does. This situation has touched someone in a way that will change them forever.  Maybe it will be one of us, maybe it is a nurse or a doctor, maybe it is one of you reading.  I just know that this all happened for a reason, and God will use even the bad things that happen for good.   So please pray for us that "the God of steadfastness and endurance would give [us] a Spirit of unity amongst ourselves..." This is from our wedding text ( Romans 15: 5) and I have often thought about that blessing over our marriage, how Tom and I generally stand united in all things.    Well, we are still united, but it is getting harder to stand for so long.  Please pray for the endurance that only God can give so that we can make it to March, until maintenance, when we can get back to some semblance of normal....

I still can't get over how everything "worked out" the last two weeks, with my Mother in Law, who just "happened" to be visiting Smithers, so she could watch the girls when Tom came to Vancouver, and then could pack them up and fly here and back with them.  It was / is so cool, you can't say it was a coincidence.  He really takes care of every detail...

Thanks Lord.  And thanks to you too.