It took several days to get a diagnosis for my husband. I was told lymphoma and then I was told leukemia, and finally yesterday, I was told ALL: acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He is very sick. His liver and kidneys have shut down. He is on 24-hour dialysis, and the chemo treatment starts today. He had been transferred to St. Luke’s in San Antonio, and that’s where we were through yesterday. The goal was to get him to MD Anderson or Methodist before they had to start chemo as those are bigger, more cancer-focused facilities, but there were no beds available at either one. I have been praying for a miracle (and I’m not the only one), and I was told last night there was a bed at Methodist, and he would be moved sometime during the night. I believe we are at least headed in the right direction, and I thank God for that.
I am sitting here writing this blog post waiting for the ICU to open for visitors and thinking of all the things I am grateful for. There are so many things—both big and small. The fact that treatment is available for Bill, the fact that I am now retired and can be in San Antonio for as long as I need to, the fact that I have a support system at home, the fact that I have praying friends and church family, the fact that I have the financial resources to be here for a while, the fact that my step-daughter can be here on weekends to give a day or two of relief. Those are the big things, but there are hundreds of little things that make everything a little more tolerable. Things like a hot shower at night, phone calls and texts, the taste of the tamales I bought last night at HEB, nurses and doctors who are patient with my dumb questions, and so much more.
I know this is just a stage of life we need to get through and wait for things to get better. I have faith that they will.
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