Wednesday,

Another day in the life of our temporary home here at Sparrow Hospital. After a somewhat nerve wracking night where Bonnie’s fever climb to over 104 degrees (the highest since we have been here) amazingly God blessed us with a fair amount of sleep. Bonnie’s sleep as it turned out was a little cooler than mine thanks to a cooling blanket that was laid on her in an attempt to reduce her fever. This evening has been more of the same as her temperature climbed to over 102 degrees.

The nurses have been trying to get two units of blood in Bonnie tonight but because of the fever there were a couple hours of delay while every attempt was made to reduce her fever. It is amazing how quickly it can change. When I ran down to the cafeteria to pick up food to go, Bonnie’s fever was in the high 98 degrees. I came back 25 minutes later and it was 101.7 and climbing. For over four hours tonight she had the cooling blanket on her with only a thin sheet between her and that blanket which was set at 45 degrees. Needless to say she was miserable and the time couldn’t go any slower for her. Fortunately her fever dropped below the threshold so the nurses were able to complete the transfusions. Now we’re waiting for platelets, but watching to see if her temperature is stabilized.

Her WBC count is still at zero which means another day of waiting and another day of being susceptible to infection. We did receive some promising news from the Infectious Disease physicians however. It appears the yeast infection is not gaining ground as the cultures they took two days ago are still negative and show no signs of positive growth. They expect there will still be some growth in the culture, but the delay means fewer yeast and a better chance that it will subside.

I (Steve) have a biopsy of my Sacrum tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. to determine what the mass is that showed up on both the MRI and CT Scan. I keep reminding myself that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. It seems we are more frequently discussing this but at the same time reminding ourselves that God can use our situation in many ways. We have heard from so many that this blog has been an encouragement to others in their time of need. I find God’s timing interesting, as I have said before, God does not make mistakes. It isn’t a mistake that Bonnie is in the condition she is in and it isn’t a mistake that I may have some issues that will need to be dealt with in my sacral area. As I read every morning from Charles Stanley’s Daily Bible reading, I am amazed at the parallels of many of his commentaries to our situation. I have only shared a fraction of some of those comments and would like to share with you the following commentary Dr. Stanley had on a section of 2 Kings that I read today:

“Though there may be destruction and despair surrounding you, there is a foundation which stands as a mighty pillar that will never fall. It is God’s strength and your reliance upon God’s trustworthy character that will sustain you when everything else begins to crumble. When you trust in the faultless character of God and allow His Word to dwell in you richly, you will have a foundation established within you that will not be shaken. No matter what trial or opposition you face, the foundation of the Lord’s love and Word in your heart will endure He will help you. Make your heart tender, and humble yourself before the Lord, He will establish you, and by Him you will be mighty.”

Nothing can replace the infallible word of God for our source of strength and endurance; however God has given us timely comments from gifted people. It is no accident that he has used the knowledge of others to encourage and minister to us in this difficult time. Thank you for your continued prayers.