Schedules and Checklists

   I might be actually breaking a modern day record today.  On this day, April 24, 2017, I have six -- count 'em -- six different medical appointments within a five-hour window.  I should call the Guinness Book of World Records people to determine if there is a category for such a record.  If not, they should create one.  This is in advance of the stem-cell transplant I will be undergoing.  It seems as though life, as I know it, will change significantly.  Here is my roster for today:

• 10:00 -- Nutrition Class
• 10:30 -- Chest X-Ray
• 11:00 -- Meeting with Dr. Williams, the transplant doctor (she is also really smart)
• 11:30 -- Meeting with Lori, my transplant coordinator (a role that is a hybrid between tour guide and den mother)
• 12:00 -- Meeting with the Infectious Diseases people (when they zap me with chemo and take a lot of my blood cells, I will be quite susceptible to any kind of virus, germ, bacterium, dust, bad luck or bad habit so I guess they need to tell me to be good and be careful)
• 2:00 -- Meeting with Dr. Campbell, my oncologist

   I feel a bit like a baton at a track meet.  I am in the exchange zone right now, getting passed from one all-star doctor to the next all-star doctor.  I am hoping Dr. Williams is running the anchor leg because I really want this race to be over soon.  But the fans are still cheering, still praying me through this experience.  Thank you so much for your continued support, love, good vibes, cards, and prayers.  Please keep cheering.  Remember there are others fighting The Big Nasty besides me.  Please keep these friends of mine in your prayers too:

• Howie (pancreatic cancer) - slowly gaining strength but chemo regimen has been reduced
• Becky (breast cancer) - bald and beautiful and fighting like a warrior
• Nancy (lymphoma) - chemo is done (!!) and scans are pending
• Brandon (lymphoma) - just starting out a stem-cell transplant now
• Scott (bladder cancer) - facing his second bout of cancer with confidence

   Please also pray for Dana's family as they wade through the grief they are experiencing following her death from pancreatic cancer.  This is part of the cruelty of this disease -- it significantly impacts so many people beyond just the ones who are physically affected.  But know that cancer will not ever be victorious because "...I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)."  Let's go, team!