Monday

Today was a little more outside the status quo from an emotional perspective and a little more of a roller coaster. It’s very apparent that God wants us to trust Him more fully than we have as we continue on our journey. He closed one door today and opened up another as a possibility. We learned today that neither Bonnie’s sister or brother were a match as a possible bone marrow donor. That was a setback as we were hopeful that Bonnie’s sister was a match, as they have many similar physical attributes.

We are however, still firm in our faith that God is in control of all things, including the issue of finding a donor. We also know that God can heal Bonnie if He chooses to do so, either within the context and framework of the medical community He has blessed us with, or in a supernatural unfathomable way that our finite minds cannot comprehend. He is the great physician and source of our hope and joy.

The other half of the roller coaster ride was the second call we received later in the afternoon from our Bone Marrow Transplant Coordinator at Karmanos letting us know that she was able to identify on the national bone marrow donor database eight potential perfect matches. The key word here is “potential”. Most names in the database have completed a saliva swab to provide an initial DNA record for gene typing. The typing from this initial swab is a good indicator that we have a match, but more detailed typing is required using blood to ensure that the eight genes they need to match with Bonnie do indeed match. Karmanos is initiating the process with the national donor program to ask seven of the eight (they typically use six to seven names) people to go to a lab to provide blood for further testing. Once the blood samples are received by Karmanos the process takes approximately 14 days to finalize the typing.

One other positive with this news is that one of the eight in the database actually has had the more detailed typing completed and appears to be a perfect match. Our Coordinator will speak with Bonnie’s doctor on Wednesday to see if she wants to immediately commence the transplant process without looking at any of the other seven candidates. Issues that can arise though are the donor’s schedule doesn’t work with our timing or they changed their mind. Obviously these issues have to be worked out and we are putting them in God’s hands and trusting that He knows best.

Just a quick update on my (Steve) status. I did receive my second chemo treatment this past Thursday in spite of the lingering upper respiratory issue that continues to hang on. I am experiencing more insomnia and nausea this time around along with the same abdominal cramping I did with the first round and pray that all will subside soon. We are keeping a close eye (figuratively speaking) on my lungs as they seem to have some fluid building, but presently not serious. Please continue to pray for peace in the midst of the physical challenges I feel and that I will persevere with joy even when I don’t feel like it. This morning I read Romans chapter 5 and verses 3 & 4 might as well have been bolded and underlined by God as I was reading the text because He sure brought it to my attention. I’ve included verses 1 through 5 for complete context and have put in bold type below my new prayer:

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Please pray this with us as we forge ahead each day, not knowing what is around the next corner, but trusting that God is leading us where He wants us to go.