Gaining Strength

April 10

Today was a better day but I still am plagued with this awful sore throat. David called around 10:30 as I was getting ready to go to the hospital and asked if I would like to meet him for lunch. It was a nice opportunity to connect with him as well as a bit of a diversion for me. I picked him up at work and we drove over to Tim Hortons for a quick lunch. Mary Wiens called while we were out and left a message to say she was coming up to the hospital around 1 and had a load of insulators for me so I headed off to meet her at the hospital.

When I entered the room Marilyn was awake and alert and she told me that soon she would be taken for her final test, the biopsy. She seemed calm and ready to go and I was thankful for that. Mary then arrived and we had a nice visit after which I loaded about 200 insulators into the van. Earlier in the day (before I got there) Gordon and Rosemary Kary dropped by and so did Dale and Irene Biebrick. Both couples had just come from the Tom Baker clinic where they were having cancer treatments. Dale and Irene have been such a blessing and encouragement to us, praying many times with me both in person and over the phone. If it weren’t for them Marilyn might still be at home. Irene’s homemade bread and hamburger soup has been my staple food most of the week.

When I got back to the room a nurse came in to tell us that it was time for Marilyn to go. I rushed out to the pay phone just outside of the room and called Ardith who immediately set the prayer grapevine in motion. I asked for her to let John Teibe know but she said she couldn’t reach him just then. (I later discovered that John called Ardith within 5 minutes of my call inquiring about and wanting to pray for Marilyn) I praised God for this. As we made our way down to the waiting area for the test I was praying with every step. The technician came out to talk to us and informed Marilyn that they would not be giving general anesthesia – I thought I had already impressed that on her but this was news to her and she immediately became quite agitated saying that the nurses had told her otherwise. She wanted me to call the unit right away so I did hoping to calm her down. This didn’t work too well but then the Doctor doing the test came and reassured Marilyn that he would give her a strong narcotic that he thought would help her. I was so thankful when she then agreed to do her best. For some reason she was sure that the porter who brought her down had a last name of pick so she insisted that I ask him if he was related to Lyn Pick. His name was George Davis. I knew then that the meds were still causing some confusion for her. Just before they took her for the procedure I was able to pray with her and she went off calm bus apprehensive. I made my way back to her room where I hooked up a computer to the phone line and went on line finding 2 of her close Internet friends. Frostbird from Chicago and Cactus from Boston. They wanted info and prayer items. So I was able to conscript 2 mnore warriors for the prayer vigil. After about 2 hours around 4 Marilyn came back to the room very tired and sore but the test was over and the wait for results had begun.

Marilyn was helped into a nice clean bed and settled down right away. The nurse asked if when would like supper and went off to order a supper tray. I found a nice pear I had brought up earlier and offered to cut it up and to my surprise Marilyn said she would try to eat. Not only did she eat half of the pear she also ate a small beef potpie and a Dixie cup of ice cream. This was her first meal since last Tuesday. Again I thanked God. During supper Marilyn mentioned a few things that showed she was still suffering from some confusion. She insisted that at night several more beds were in the room and up to 6 more patients shared the space and every once in a while she would see hornets buzzing around or spiders here and there. I was able to assure her that these were just thoughts that the meds were causing and not reality. I hope that this confusion will totally disappear soon.
Faith arrived for a visit after supper and stayed from 7:30 until after 9 and Marilyn really perked up. For the first time in days she talked in a normal voice and lost the whispering one-word answers to questions. I was so happy to see her gaining strength. We talked some of her bad times and a bit of the oppression she had felt – but most of all we just visited about family and current events. It was a good and encouraging end to the day. After Faith left I was able to pray again with Marilyn and when I asked her if she was afraid for tomorrow – she said no. We know the future is so uncertain but now I feel ready for the next step.