Just a quick report (really) because I have to get up early for an appt. in Ia. City tomorrow. Today was a day of appointments…massage for Joshua which was great. Really helped his aching bod…she let up on the pressure and he said he felt better after this one than any of the previous ones. Then to radiation and then off to the Pulmonologist. One new concern and two areas of good news.
First, Joshua’s heart is racing (about 100) and so he wants to get an echo cardiogram just to make sure things are ok. Joshua wasn’t too keen on another major organ potentially having problems, but he’s choosing not to worry about it unless they find something. Personally, I think it could be medication caused…he’s on so much.
The good news is that the spots they were following on my lungs seem to be just that…spots that the Dr. is not too worried about. I’ll have a 3 month re-check but he doesn’t expect there to be a problem. Praise God…that would not have been welcomed news any way you look at it. I also have to see a cardiologist as I am having heart palpitations now and then, but I’m thinking God is just giving me sympathy pains, so Joshua doesn’t feel so alone. 🙂 It is funny that our ailments at the moment seem to be in the same areas, minus cancer for me, of course. But it does help me understand to some degree how he feels having all these medical issues, the questions, the waiting for answers etc. And he’s not the only one constantly at the Drs. office.
The second piece of good news is that when Joshua mentioned to Dr. Cowden about the service related case he’s trying to complete with the VA right now, he jumped in to Joshua’s defense and said he did not want him out there alone trying to fight the government/military battle. And that while they are asking Joshua to ‘prove’ that his illness goes back to 2004, the Dr. said what he needs is his team of Drs. to write a professional report stating that while they, of course, could not prove the burn pits were the only direct cause, they could in fact say that they were definitively a part of the cause which played together with other factors (unknown) to cause this type of cancer in someone so young. He was SO supportive and encouraging and it felt so good to have someone with some authority step in to his defense and offer any and all help that he could. What a relief and a blessing. He suggested we just skip all the detailed questions and say refer to Dr. report. What a relief! One less lengthy report to be filled out. Please pray for this report to have a good reception. So far God has gone ahead of us in so many ways and cleared the path for us and this would be such a blessing and a help to Joshua as he doesn’t know what his future holds as far as income goes. And of course, he sees it as a chance to speak to the problem…especially concerning the Iraqi’s who must also be suffering from the same medical problems. Who knows what God may have in mind with this issue for him.
As far as the request…it’s very hard for me to ask for ‘anything else’ because we have received so much already from so many. But, this is a project that we can just not do on our own and it involves someone elses’ facility that they are graciously letting us borrow to store all of Joshua’s things in. We have to get his things moved, especially his books…which account for most of the boxes over there. There are probably 75 boxes or more just of his books. And with the rain, there is a good chance of mold setting in and she has to run a dehumidifier for us which is not cheap. We plan to go through them some day when we ever get the time, but for now I think we need to just put them down in my basement. She has a forklift to put them in Joshua’s truck (we’ve picked up one load already and Mark, Rebekah’s husband unloaded them for us when they were home and they’re sitting in my office. He has SO much stuff. We will get rid of all his clothes as they are all way too big for him now and he doesn’t want to get back to that weight again anyways. But all of this takes lifting and stacking and going through. We mainly need help moving the books right now and if there is anyone who we haven’t already tapped out who offered to help but we didn’t know what we needed at the time, we’d really appreciate it. We could do it on a Sat. or anytime that suited whomever can help. I just feel very badly keeping my friends’ warehouse tied up and having to use and pay for the dehumidifier. She’s been very gracious about it all, but I know she needs it out soon. So just e’mail, call, or text us if you think you could help with this project. It’s one of those that looks like David’s Goliath…so much bigger than we’re able to accomplish on our own. Everyone has been so wonderful to us, it really is hard to ask for one more thing, but this is an urgent need that I’m just not finding an answer to. (Naomi and Travis are getting their house ready to move and are tied up).
Thanks everyone, and Joseph, tell Augie to keep those prayers coming…”out of the mouth of babes”…I have great faith in his sweet ,innocent, and pure prayers. And Roger, that is so great about Joshua’s talk. We pray God will bless it everywhere it goes. Thanks so much for your caring involvement. We are still hearing from people from the Awards Banquet. What an encouragement!
Again, Love to you all…we are so grateful!!
Joshua and Kristi
Just to let you know, Josh, that the prayers for you from our corner of Holland continue. I recall how the prayers of others put wind in my sails when I was awaiting a kidney transplant during those two years of dialysis. One of the good things about being sick was that I did a lot more reading. Do you have the energy to read?