First Chemotherapy Treatment

First, the great news – the bone marrow biopsy returned negative! Susette’s bones have no signs of cancer. PRAISE GOD!

Today, we awoke before sunrise to make sure we could beat the traffic from Newport Beach to UCLA for our 8:00am appointment.

Susette was in pretty good spirits. On the way to the appointment, we prayed, read the Bible and excerpts from the book Christ the Healer by F.F. Bosworth. It is an incredible book. We were encouraged and optimistic. We also received a call from Elaine Simpson, a friend from Georgia, who had recently gone through chemo. She offered words of encouragement and inspiration and prayed with Susette.

We were scheduled for blood to be drawn at 8:00, followed by the chemo therapy at 9:00. Unfortunately, because of a misunderstanding with our new Medical coverage, they almost didn’t take us. I called our case worker and, by God’s grace, she took care of the problem and we were approved for treatment. The blood test was delayed about an hour and a half. (The blood has to be drawn first to assess the white cell count. If it is too low, there would be no chemo.)

After one hour, the blood results were in and the chemo was a go. They began administering the various “pre-treatment” drugs (Tylenol, Benedryl, antibiotics, anti-nausea and other drugs) before the actual chemotherapy treatment began.

We were assigned a nurse to be with us for the entire treatment. Her name was Sarah. She was very nice and took her time explaining the whole process and what to expect. Susette hit it off real well with her. (Of course, who doesn’t hit it off well with Susette?) The nurse was fascinated with her stories about Haiti and she kept asking all kinds of questions. We don’t think she is a believer but she sounded very interested to hearing more about Susette’s story and her motivation for living in Haiti.

When she was ready to administer the four chemo drugs, she came over in full protective gear -- face mask, rubber gloves, etc. She said she dressed like that to prevent contact with these dangerous drugs. And all I could think was, “in a few minutes, those dangerous drugs will be flowing through my wife’s veins.”

A friend of the family, Parker, a young man from Peter Bohlinger’s USC Bible class, came to help out, offer encouragement and pray with us.

The chemo administration was not as bad as we anticipated but the Benedryl and other pre-treatment drugs kicked in and Susette fell asleep through much of the chemo.

It was nearly 4pm by the time we were finished and Susette was pretty drowsy. We went to meet with our oncologist, Dr. deVos and then drove home. We prayed on the way home, thanking God for allowing us to receive this treatment, for having the first session go so well and for the very nice people at the hospital.

After three more treatments, they will do another PET scan to check her progress. It is our prayer that the doctor will be blown away by the total disappearance of Hodgkins from her body. Please join us in this prayer. God bless you.

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalm 103:1-5