Transfusions are worthless in
the face of fever, so measures including Tylenol and ice baths
are used to reduce fever in order to give the platelets a chance
to survive. Blood transfusions are necessary as well. All of this
lasts until the stem cells “engraft” and start producing
blood cells again. This occurs, on average, about 10 days after
the transplant, and that was the case for Mike. When that happens,
the ulcers in your mouth begin to heal and the amount of pain
medicine can be reduced.
You are constantly fatigued but cannot sleep. You suffer severely
from the sleep deprivation, including having psychological problems
that can become psychotic. You retain water. Mike gained 17 pounds
in two days. Then you lose the water. Mike lost it all in the
next two days. Your night is spent in the bathroom, which doesn’t
help the sleep deprivation. You try to eat but your taste buds
have been damaged and there is very little taste to anything.
Your mouth is dry, coated with a thick grainy mucous. It would
be like filling your mouth with the paste that kids use in school.
Mike found that the only thing that he could tolerate was Ensure.
It is a really good product. Even at home, he is drinking three
bottles a day. The day he got home, he tried to eat soup. It took
him one hour to eat a bowl. It hurt to eat it and it had no taste.
He will stick with the Ensure until his mouth has more time to
heal.
Why describe these details? Perhaps you may have friends who
undergo this process, and we wanted folks to have an idea of what
they go through. For himself, Mike is so grateful that he had
this treatment available to him in more ways than one. It may
help him live, but it has also taught him a great lesson about
suffering. Suffering allows us to become more humble and to become
closer to God. It is an opportunity to strengthen our faith and,
in some small way, to begin to understand the day-to-day lives
of so many people in the world. During this time, after all of
the water shifting was completed, he lost 25 pounds. He has no
appetite and food offers no pleasure. This is the case for the
many starving children that we care for in Tshikaji. The greatest
challenge is to simply get them to eat something. The smell and
sight of food for Mike has been a punishment. It takes great love
and patience to find the food that a malnourished child will tolerate
to break through that same barrier. It is one thing to read about
this in a textbook on malnutrition, and quite another to witness
it. Personally experiencing it moves it to that final level.
Mike is truly grateful for this experience, as it will make him
a better doctor and human being. He still faces radiation therapy
in another month. A few weeks later he will have a baseline PET
(Positron Emission Tomography) scan, and will begin a follow-up
protocol of exams every three months and scans to look for cancer
recurrence. The first of these should be in September and will
be accompanied by tests on Mike’s immune system. Generally,
with the type of transplant Mike had, immunity will be retained.
Once that is assured, we will be permitted to return to our beloved
DR Congo.
It has been quite a journey and we really miss our home and friends
in Congo. We look forward to returning and having the opportunity
to become even more involved with the bush hospitals through the
Safe Motherhood program. This will further integrate our own service
into the greater work of the Presbyterian Church of Congo as we
travel with a team working in health, education, and pastoral
care.
We thank you all for your many, many emails, cards, prayer shawls,
phone calls, letters, and continued prayers of support of us personally,
and of the mission of the church.
Our love
Mike and Nancy
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
317
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