She has entered the ‘Boring’ Phase, according to Dr. Marin (pronounced Marine, he’s from Spain). She is having some side affects from the earlier in the week chemo (Cytoxin). All to be expected, and on course they are telling us. She will be weak, not feeling like eating, etc. One day at a time is how she is taking it, one day closer to the goal, she told me this morning. Of going back to our tiny house, then finally being able to go home to see all our loved ones and friends again.

Thank you to all who send cards, pictures, updates, etc. Those come every day in some way and it has been a real blessing! We continue to meet and gain new friends, almost every day. Lots of stories, paths of suffering and patience. Endurance. Heartache. Setbacks, Rebounds. It takes the Lord to keep us upbeat and encouraged. The nurses they try so hard, but they are not perfect. The medicines, the creams, the ointments, not perfect either. Many who have come here to MDA are at their last chance. Other places have given up, or don’t know what to do.

18 year old, Liam, he just got his stem cells earlier this week. He is the youngest ever, on this transplant floor, according to a couple of nurses we have talked with. We have met he and his mother in the hallway and had a brief chat. Kay shared some info. to help the mom find some help for their travel expenses.

I have met Tommy and his wife, he 77, and she around 70, back in the RV park. He may be the oldest stem cell patient ever (with MDS and AML). He got his cells back in early July. He looks great, is out walking, doing odd jobs to stay busy and sane. They are from Carson City, NV, over 2000 miles from here. Note: normally patients over 75 cannot qualify for a stem cell transplant, but here he got one!

Mark and Bea, back at the park now. Bea is only 46 and had a rare blood Leukemia. They are from Georgia. He is a tri-athlete, and trains others. Has a national business. She got her stem cells back Mid August, and is just in the last week or so developing an appetite and starting to have some stamina to be out walking more, eating normally. They are prayer warriors for us too. And we for them.

I just met David in the laundry room here yesterday. Very despondent. They are from DesMoines, IA. No family nearby or back home to help. Her leukemia (his wife’s), and after the doctor’s back home gave up. They are retired, in their early sixties. They have been traveling back and forth every month since earlier this year. Now he is stuck here not knowing what will happen next. They are keeping her in the hospital and treating hoping CarT cell therapy will help. I gave him an old business card of mine (I had it in a book I was reading, using as a bookmark), after asking him if he would like to use me as a contact or support. He said ‘yes’, and thank you. I hope he will call.

Barbara and Earl are on there way back again today, from Daphne, AL. They were just here last Monday. The neuroscience team wants to see her right away to propose a treatment for her breast cancer which has now spread to her brain. She is upbeat and put her life in God’s hands. They have lived here in Houston for the better part of this year at the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge, where Kay and I also stayed for a month for free back earlier this summer. They have served and prayed for so many, they truly are remarkable. Both in their late seventies. So special to know and be a part of their lives right now.

I met Dewey just this a.m., with his dog out walking, across the street from our tiny house. His wife is 78 and a survivor of mantle cell lymphoma, for all of these last 9 years. They live in LaGrange, KY. Dr.Wang is her doctor also. She just was hit with 6 days of cytoxin, more or less as a last resort to bring her lymphoma under control one more time. Because of her age and condition, they may or may not be able to offer a stem cell transplant to her. (You have to have the cancer close to remission before a stem cell transplant will work). We agreed to stay in touch. His wife, Cheryl, is just there in the camper, after being released from the hospital a couple of days ago. It makes me thankful that Kay is actually still in the hospital, so the great nurses here can attend to her needs, much better than I (David) could do all by myself.

Regardless of cancer or not, we all are looking for re-assurance, comfort, encouragement from wherever we can find it. For some, they look to the wrong places, persons, or things. But when you are at a place of life and death decisions, not unlike what the Ft.Myers, FL residents went thru during Hurricane Ian. I heard one man say, ‘It was the worst decision of my life’, referring to his decision to stay by himself with his dog and ‘ride out the storm’ on his own.

Some of us are like that, until we realize we can’t afford to make a wrong decision any longer. If we are a true believer in Christ, we know where our only lasting, effective comfort can come from. As I listen to Pastor Larry on the broadcast this morning, he is talking on 1 Corinthians Chapter One. And it fits perfectly with what I am feeling and sensing for Kay and I this morning. I hope this verse will impact you, as it has our lives. The verse says this:

I Corinthians 13

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.6If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience. 7And our hope for you is sure, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort.

Grace and peace to you all,

David and Kay