(I had to change the name of this post to something besides, "He Passed with Flying Colors." Bret, Mark's business partner, told me that he about had a heart attack when he saw the first two words of the title! 😁)
Ian, who is working with Dr. Taylor for the Interleukin 2 protocol, emailed that the doctor had seen the results and we have a green light to proceed. Mark was rereading Ian's initial email before setting up the stress tests, "I've placed orders for you to have an exercise treadmill test and a lung function test. These tests are designed to stress out your cardiovascular system BEFORE we give you IL2 because the drug most certainly will." Oh boy!!
Next Wednesday morning, the 13th, Ian will go through all the details of what to expect. He also indicated, "there is an extra week in there between cycles 1 and 2. This has to do with Covid and managing available bed space throughout the hospital. In non-Covid times it's not uncommon for patients to have three weeks between cycles. I can assure you there is no clinical consequence related to this additional week. The additional week of recovery may actually benefit you, although in reviewing your stress test, I'll say I'm quite impressed with your stamina. I didn't last nine minutes during my stress test!"
In reading through the last post, we realized that it sounded much more positive than we initially felt. It was like a punch in the gut when we got the news. My chest was so tight that I felt like I could hardly breathe. It took some time to wrap our heads around it. Recently, I have noticed that my eye twitches often. I assume it's an indication that my body is a bit more stressed than I realized, although, for the most part, we are calm.
After hearing the news, I commented to Mark that we should spend the next few weeks watching movies and eating our favorite ice cream! A few days later, a package showed up on our front porch--6 pints of Graeter's ice cream, including my favorite, Double Chocolate Chip! We've been too busy to watch any movies, maybe next week! Mark has been occupied this week with preparations for Stake Conference, which is this coming weekend.
These challenges cause us to feel more deeply the pain that others are going through--like the young man we know who is experiencing very painful effects of cancer, and his family who feel helpless and want so desperately to take away his pain, and the cancer! Our hearts hurt for them and many others who are experiencing heart-wrenching trials.
The day after Christmas, my sister-in-law had a brain bleed that the doctors found was caused by lung cancer that had metastasized to the brain and liver. (She never smoked a day in her life.) The prognosis was not good, but they thought she had weeks or even months to live. She went home on New Year's Eve, and on New Year's Day, she passed away peacefully surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She was so dear to all she had so diligently served, and she will be missed terribly, especially by her family. The consolation is that my brother who died of Parkinson's 17 1/2 years ago, is thrilled to be with her again!
The anguish of losing those dear to us indicates the love we have for them, so we mourn, as we should. I don't want to think of what it would be like to live without the love of my life, but it does cause me to feel empathy for those who are currently dealing with loss. Nevertheless, it is part of this life experience, so we mourn with those that mourn. But, we can also rejoice with those that rejoice!
On a bright note, the Graeter's ice cream is incredible!!! But, what we had to go through to get it!😅
We continue in prayer for the both of you, Cheryl and her two brothers had to make the tough decision last Sunday to remover her stepdad off life support, we to mourn the loss of a great man. Palms 46:1
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