Day -10
Things are getting a little harder. There are more tubes, more wires, more pumps, and more medications being added daily.
Rowan also ad pretty bad nausea today, followed by light headedness, and very fast heart rate. He didn't feel well at all. We got things under control eventually though and he once again rested.
As you know Rowan's chosen name for his Lil Guardian's vest, from the Guardian's of the Children, is "HOPE".
All of his Rally for Rowan t-shirts have had the word emblazoned on the front of them.
Hope is something Rowan has always had, despite all he has been through. Hope is what keeps him going. It's what he holds dearly on to, and the message he tries to spread to others. During one of his last interviews in Texas, he closed by saying "as long as you have hope, you can pretty much do anything."
Last night he and I were designing one more Rally for Rowan shirt and decided to use that quote on the back. Here is a picture of the new shirt. He liked how the word Hope was in yellow, so it shined on the dark shirt, like God's light shines in the darkness.
(If you'd like to order this shirt, they will be available for order on bonfire funds for the next 10 days. The fund will close on the day of his actual transplant, August 4th. Then they will print and be mailed out within 2 weeks. The link is: https://www.bonfirefunds.com/rally-for-rowan-1 )
That reminded me of a conversation he and I had about light and dark once before, several years ago. (I always type our special conversations up in my notes on my phone, so I quickly found the one I was thinking of.) Here is what he had said:
"I'm glad I'm sick. If I wasn't, I might not be able to see God and Jesus and all the good things and greatness in
the world. If I wasn't, I might not have as much Hope. When everything is good most of the time in someone’s life, they
don’t even realize it…and they notice the bad more when it happens. But, if you’ve had a
lot of hard times, you REALLY notice all the good when it happens. You know how it’s easier to see the
brightness when you are looking for it in the dark, like the moon or a
flashlight? Well, God is like that brightness.
I feel like the sun is God looking down on us in the day, and the moon
is God looking down on us at night. But
there’s a hundred other ways he shows us His light in between, in all the signs
He gives us. You just have to look
though. You just have to have Hope."
I just love how his mind works, and how God speaks to him. I love how God uses him to share those messages with us too.
This coming Thursday through Saturday are going to be Rowan's hardest days of chemo. He will be getting two of the most toxic drugs with the worst side effects, and he will be starting to show the effects of his first four days of high dose chemo as well. It is going to be a trying couple of days. One of the drugs he starts Thursday requires that he be bathed and have his clothes and bedding changed 4 times a day, because it is excreted through the skin and can be so damaging. The second one has higher risk of anaphylactic reactions. I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous. Thank God for Hope. Thank Rowan for reminding me.
I decided to look ahead to Thursday's scripture in Rowan's devotional, and was once again blown away! Here is what it says for Thursday:
How perfect. "Be joyful because you have hope." It sounds just like Rowan!
It is just what I needed to be reminded of..."When all you can see around you are huge problems, it is hope that gives you the courage to keep going." Hope is what keeps him going. I need to focus on the same thing.
"Be patient when trouble comes. Pray at all times."
This part got me thinking. I know how many people are praying for Rowan, and I know a lot of you are praying all throughout the day. It truly comforts us all. I started thinking about how we could have some type of organized prayer those 3 days specifically. Our dear friend Lorraine, who is awesome by the way, knew exactly what I needed. She created this "Rally for Rowan HOPE Prayer Chain" with 30 minute time slots covering those 3 days. You can go to this SignUp.com link and choose a 30 minute slot to be your dedicated time to cover him in prayer and keep the potentially damaging side effects of the drugs he will be receiving those days at a minimum. Pray for his Hope to be full and constant. Pray for his safety, for his health, for his strength and for his spirit. Pray for our family as we sit by his side, helping him get through this phase of treatment, that we can provide him with the best support, and that we remain strong ourselves as well. Pray for his team of medical professionals, that they also have strength and clarity during these difficult days. It must be so difficult for them to watch patient after patient endure such things. Pray for everyone that Rowan's story reaches, that they be inspired in their own life to always have Hope, so they can do "pretty much anything" in their own lives as well.
To sign up for a prayer time slot, use this:
We know that there are dark days ahead of us, but as Rowan said, "As long as we have hope, we can pretty much do anything!"
Thank you for sharing in that hope!
No comments:
Post a Comment