October 3, 2001: Harvest; Prayer

Vol. 12.5

Friends: quick update on me and a couple of prayer requests.

Good news! They got all they needed! my counts keep rebounding at about twice the normal rate after chemo, and it took only one session to "harvest" 5X as many stem cells as they hope to normally get in 3 or 4 sessions. (They're shooting for a "4" count, and they got "20" in one try). All this is general, but exceptional, good news. (All that walking in July and August paid off!) Thanks for praying for me.

Now I wait a week and go into the hospital next TUESDAY for the transplant, and should be back home by Thursday or Friday for the long recovery process. I'll keep you informed.

As for other prayer requests, a few...

First, my good friend Marilyn Benzel (wife of my old boss at PRISM) recently had a cancerous tumor taken from her breast, and is undergoing radiation all month long. Please pray for her.

Second, this week while "harvesting" i met a couple from northern PA who were doing the same process as me (she was, he was with her), except they were having exactly the opposite results as me--hardly getting any and pretty discouraged. Please pray for them (no, don't know their names).

Finally, under my signature is a note from my friend Brian Healy who had a heart attack last week. Please continue to pray for him.

fondly,

dwight

FROM BRIAN HEALY: I just wanted to thank you all in a pleasant, short, but, heart felt form letter for all your kind notes, e-mail's and prayers. And to give you a quick update. Consider this letter my anti-Dwight Ozard style update because I not only lack his eloquence and optimistic attitude but, I'm a real big cry baby to boot.

(Please continue to pray for Dwight by the way as he enters a new phase in his cancer treatments)

Frankly, I feel like I've been hit by a bus; this major surgery stuff hurts damn it! The bad health thing is new to me as I have always found myself fat and happy and had no idea just healing can be so draining of ones strength and painful while making you pretty cantankerous too.

Btw: Yes this is worst than having a heart attack on the pain scale.

Without going into too many specifics my inside were all screwed up unbeknown to me. So what would be an hour surgery turned into a four-hour cut and paste of my digestive system which apparently is somewhat deformed and missing a couple of parts like a small intestine, normal stomach, etc. And what was there was totally transverse and piled up on the left side of my abdominal cavity and had been that way from birth.

This was capped by a trip to ICU and a week or so in the hospital hitting the morphine button like a kid playing hungry hippo's. I still have a hideous tube sticking out of my abdomen violating my basic rule of keeping my insides and the outside world sealed from each other so it's not as though I can pretend all's well just yet, but things seem to be getting better with time.

From what I gather it was the medical equivalent of removing a brake drum and all the parts fall out, and you've got to stuff it all back in, but trying to put it all in proper working order.

So for now and for the distant future normal solid foods are pretty much out of the picture. Yes, soup is good food but, out of a blender pureed or strained it gets pretty dull fast. It looks like I'll be on the mend for some time to come and will be making the needed adjustment to life so things are going to be rather slow and low key for a while to say the least.

On the upside I have gotten e-mail's from many people who I have lost track of, that I will contact when this healing thing lets up a little as well as my close friends.

Please keep us in your prayers and I hope to be in touch soon on a more personal level.

Grace & Peace, Brian Healy

E-mail Dwight | Back to Cancer Journal Index Page