Today is four months from the date of Maria's first surgery. Wow! looking back on it, it has been long and exhausting, yet nothing has slowed!
Today I was blessed to have read through three separate messages eminating from Australia and Israel where dear friends have passed our blog on to others they know (both directly and indirectly) who are going through the journey of battling GBM. We don't begin to pretend we have the monopoly or copyright on how to cope in this situation, but pray there may be something in there that may be an encouragement for them. To summarise the four months (to save them reading pages of blog entries), we are simply sustained by our faith in the Lord Jesus. It not only gets us through each day, but allows us have a different perspective on what people would call "suffering". In this time it can also be very simple to become self-centred. We have tried to use our situation to reach out to others. Have I lost you?
Maria had her first visit from the nurse this morning. Maria was so energised (far better progress than after first surgery) that she decided to accompany me on the grocery shopping trip. An hour and a half later we left the supermarket, exhausted. It is the first time Maria has been shopping since we returned to Australia, and quite a while since doing it at all. She did amazingly.
We got home in time to quickly have a late lunch and for me to head off and collect the kids while she slept.
Apart from the daily nurse visits, our next busy day will be next Wednesday, when Maria has her sutures removed, meets the Neurosurgeon and Infectious Diseases team (weekly appt - infection mgt).
I hope to visit work early next week as circumstances since returning has made it impossible to do so until now. This will give me the opportunity to discuss and negotiate my future leave arrangements.
I checked my current monthly mobile phone bill (only half-way through) to be completely horrified by the current cost. I contacted the company and after examining the bill, I was confident I had identified a serious anomaly (i.e. multiple SMSs sent to a number over a few seconds). After some investigation it was revealed that an SMS is charged per 160 characters. When given this information, I immediately realised that some of my daily updates from hospital were quite lengthy (as was the list of recipients). I admitted my naivety expecting that would be the end of it and I would have to honour the bill, regardless. To my pleasant surprise, they said they would will help to resolve this issue. I am very grateful.
Prayer point — This evening I spoke with my brother Mark. His father-in-law, Max, is in that tough stage of his own battle with cancer. Amongst all the difficulty, they have all had quality time together on-and-off in recent months. It is always hard to know what to say, except that we love them. After the call, Maria and I took some time to pray for Max and his immediate and extended family. While there were quite a few very personal prayer points I am not willing to share, I'd ask those of you out there joining us in prayer for Max and family that you please uphold them "as the Spirit leads you".
