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From: Jeremy
Date: 26 May 2005
Time: 15:12:14 -0500
Remote Name: 12.107.113.244
I’m so grateful for these last five days of wellness. Having felt so sick for weeks, and having gone through eight days of surgery and procedure to arrive in this place, it’s been really good to feel so well again. All last weekend, and through the good part of this week, I’ve been stronger, breathed better, slept more, and actually done more stuff than I have in a long while. The first three days of Chemotherapy, expected to be the worst, came off without a hitch. The potential for complications as the tumor began to dissolve and be eliminated from my body came and went with nothing to speak of. The steroids they put me on for this first induction round gave me the appetite of an ox, and I’ve been enjoying food here more than I have in a long time. I’ve been on walks around blocks near the State Capital, wearing a little blue mask of course (they didn’t have any Darth Vader helmets). The nurses in the carousel have been listening to my CDs for five days now. Every now and then I play my guitar for housekeeping. Ron Foss stopped by my room my first day here and said, “you need some furniture. I’ll be back tomorrow.” We’ve since fixed up this little hole so nice the nurses often take their breaks here. Just hanging out and chatting while their break-time whittles away. This afternoon, the floor manager stopped by to see and take recommendations as to how they might make the Cancer Ward more homey. She took one look at several of the things we’d done (moved the bed, set up shelves, hung a mirror and some corkboard) and said that’s just the way things are going to have to be from now on. I’ve been trying to get my cell phone fixed to send and receive text messages for three days now. Just yesterday, my repair ticket reached Tier 3 Customer Service. I got a call on my room phone… it was a girl’s voice. She said (while crying…) “Hi, Jeremy? This is Alecia from Cingular Wireless in Atlanta, Georgia. You made me cry today.” Apparently she had listened to my voicemail update before ringing the second number. She said, “I’m going to fix your phone, okay!” Twenty minutes later my phone worked and I had been crazily encouraged by Alecia in Atlanta. We had a Bible Study here in my room Monday night. 12 of us cramped into this little space. We read Psalm 16 and had verses read here in 3 different languages. My visitors and friends let me teach from the Psalm, and I do believe it was an edifying time for us all. Besides the emails, phone messages, and visits, one of the most encouraging activities for me these days has been taking whatever opportunity I have to encourage the church. Whether it’s been equipping and preparing others to carry what responsibilities I must release in days to come, or merely sharing the encouragement and hope that God has brought to me in this place, I can relate to the Psalmist’s prayer in 119, praying from a particular affliction, he says, “May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in Your word.” Several desperation Psalms contain this sort of prayer, this sort of longing… in the midst of whatever suffering the Psalmist is in, his desire is to encourage the People of God. I get that here.