Good News or Bad News?

Jessica and Jason made it to Augusta today.  It was challenging getting started; but ,Jessica did relatively well traveling that far.  Hopefully, this means she will be able to make some other trips soon like to the beach and to Walt Disney World.  While the news today wasn’t exactly the news we wanted, there was some good news.  The trial will not benefit Jessica.  They are doing everything they can for her.  There is no new growth. So is that the good news or the bad news? In life there are things that seem like good news and things that seem like bad news.  We judge situations and circumstances from our limited perspective of the moment.  

I went into labor early.  We had looked forward with excitement to the day; but, we hadn’t expected it to be so soon.  I was only 34 weeks.  It was probably just Braxton Hick’s contractions.  I had had them a few weeks before; but, being first time parents we rushed to the obstetrician's office.  The doctor smiled and sent us home no need to worry they are just Braxton Hicks.  Real contractions will grow closer and closer together and won’t stop. 



Jessica is the one on the left.  At this point she was several months
older than the newborn on the right

We stayed up all night timing the contractions.  They were fifteen minutes apart, ten minute, twenty minutes, five minutes, thirty minutes. So, is that good news or bad news?   Finally in the early morning hours exhaustion drove us deep into sleep.  We slept through the alarm clock and woke up five minutes before my husband was supposed to be at work.  Bad news.  He rushed around throwing on clothes, muttering under his breath.  “Well, at least we made it through the night,” he said as he grabbed his lunch and dashed out the door.  I waddle toward the bathroom and just as I heard the door slam shut my water broke!!  Good news or bad news?

This was before cell phones so I yelled out for my husband to come back like he could hear me from a block away.  I waddled my way back to the bedroom and picked up the phone and called his work.  “Is Gene there yet?”  Duh, of course not, he just left and we lived 15 minutes away.  I calmly told his boss….“TELL HIM HIS WIFE IS IN LABOR AND TO GET BACK HOME NOW!!!!” 

Jessica was born six weeks early.  She was in respiratory distress.  The doctors were not sure if she would make it.  We could send her to a neo natal intensive care unit in Columbus that could treat her; but, she might not survive the trip.  Good news or bad news? For five hours they worked with her to stabilize her enough to transport her.  Finally, her father, a specialized nursing care team and Jessica boarded a helicopter and were transported to Columbus.  

She had a traumatic and difficult beginning.  She suffered and almost didn’t make it.  Her lungs were under developed.  She was on a respirator.  They shaved off all her beautiful hair (which didn’t grow out again until she two years old.  We had to glue ribbons on her head so people would know she was a girl.)  Good news or bad news? 

Looking back on it now I am struck by the realization of how blessed we were.  There was a specialty nursing team available.  Fort Benning was not in the middle of maneuvers and so they provided a helicopter team for FREE to transport the team and Jessica. (We never could have afforded to have paid for the trip.) Did that mean everything was perfect?  No.  Jessica had numerous health issues over the years that may have had something to do with her premature birth perhaps even her cancer now.  Who knows?  But God was with us giving us strength, hope and wisdom. 

We live in a society addicted to bad news.  Newspapers, news stations, magazine shows feed off of bad news.  Even our weather reports are fashioned around the possibility of bad weather… “And now, Action News SEVERE Weather Team.  Today it is going to be sunny 76 degrees with a cool breeze”  Severe Weather really?!?! While bad news seems to “keep people’s attention and make advertisers dollars,” bad news leaves God out of the picture.  Bad news promotes fear. Good news promotes faith.

Today we got good news!  Jessica is on the right medication regime for her cancer.  We have done everything we can to be sure that it is the right treatment.  It is doing what it is supposed to do. We have faith that through it all no matter what happens God will be with us.  He will give us strength. He will give us His wisdom.   We have His Hope!.  And, we are going to focus on that!

Bad news or good news?  It is a matter of choice.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8

 

Building a Bridge of Hope

For Father's day, Jessica and her brother, Chad, decided to give their dad a beautiful Thomas Kinkade print.  Not an original painting mind you, (holy mackerel the price for one of those is more than our annual salaries); but, a beautifully framed limited edition artist proof. The week of Father's Day, Jessica was in the hospital so Chad went to pick it out.  As he walked around the gallery he found an Elvis Presley's Graceland painting.  He considered purchasing it.  His father is a huge Elvis fan. (I mean huge!  Our dog is named Elvis and Gene listens to the Elvis radio station ALL the time.)  Thankfully, it wasn't available!

Then he spotted "The Bridge of Hope."   It is from Kinkade's Bridges of  Inspiration collection.  Thomas Kinkade writes:

        The Bridge Of Hope is as stable as the massive granite flagstones that form
        its arch and will stand for as long as the quicksilver brook rolls down from
        the hills beneath it. A magnificent white dogwood, symbol of the purity of
        God's grace, shades the bridge. Its over-arching boughs remind us that, while
        we stand on the Bridge Of Hope, we are enshrouded by the loving embrace
        of our creator.

 

 

Instantly he knew it was the right one.  You see, what many of you may not know is that this has been an extremely challenging year for our family not just because of Jessica's illness.  In January, Jessica's father, Gene, was diagnosed with Early On Set Alzheimer's.  Later that month her sister, who still lives at home, had to have surgery.  In February, Gene had to have emergency neck surgery and we had to cancel a mission trip.  In March Jessica was in the Hospital, April she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Renal Cell Cancer, June she was in Houston and July she was back in the hospital in Newnan.(We have decided to skip August, September, and October!)

We have a very strong faith; but, life has a way of piling up.  There are more days at the end of the month than money.  You need a root canal and tooth implant.  Your boss just brought you in a project that is due in a week and you are suppose to go on vacation tomorrow.  The car is making a noise.  The kids are making noise.  The dishwasher has sprung a leak. The in laws are coming this weekend.  You are late leaving work and your kids have a ball game in twenty minutes.  Your parent's health is failing and you are beginning to wonder if they might have to move in with you.  And so it goes on and on and on....  You keep looking for a break but there doesn't ever seem to be one.  You try to find a way around the challenges until you realize the only way is to "get over it."  But, the "stuff" is so deep you would need a bridge, a bridge of Hope!

As I look at the painting it seems as if the brook begins in the clouds. It moves slowly and gently down the mountain as the light of God dances across it.   Ezekiel 47 says a stream of living water flows out from under the altar.  I imagine this stream beginning in the hands of God flowing out from under altar through the church and out into the world, growing in abundance as it moves.  It is lined by beauty as flowers blossom in vibrant colors.  Trees spring forth with graceful drooping leaves.  The pathway to the bridge shimmers with the golden light of God's love and it leads right up to the bridge.  The bridge arches over the tumbling stream to a place of promise and hope. 

We all need a bridge of hope, a person of Hope. "He is my safe place and my tower of strength: he is my God, in whom is my hope." Psalm 91:2   Hope is not wishful thinking.  It is confident trust.  We trust God! But, life has been getting in it's licks and we needed something to anchor us. To show us the shimmer of God's grace in our lives right now.  To show us that God is still working for a favorable outcome.  And, we may have found it this week!

Jessica's doctor has identified a drug trial for Jessica.  A drug trial is the concluding stages of the testing of a new drug regime for a specific treatment. In the trial, typically, there are two groups of patients.  Both groups receive the standard treatment.  One group of patients in addition receive the new drug regime.  The other group receives a placebo. (It is a necessary way of evaluating the real potential for a new medication.)  This trial in particular has already been going on for a little while and is showing great promise in treating and SHRINKING advanced renal cells.  This may be our bridge of hope. Jessica and Jason will be going to Augusta for an interview and evaluation to see if she qualifies for the program on July 24. If she qualifies she will be put on a waiting list.

You have been asking what you could do to help.  Here it is!  PRAY for this visit.  Pray that she will qualify. Pray that she will not have to wait to start the program.  Pray that she will get the medication and not the placebo.  Pray that it is a success! 

God answers prayers. He has and is answering our prayers.  We are thankful for all that He has already done for us and are confident He is continuing to work for us building a bridge of Hope.  He is building one for you too.  You will find it first in His word and in His presence. And in the people He has placed around you to "enshroud" you with His loving embrace.  Thank you for embracing us with His hope!