Going home

Going home after 3 weeks in my isolation room 3. Gold medal from my kids for being #1 Dad!

On Tues morning 21 Aug, the sister came in to my room and said those words I had been waiting for “Dr. Cohen said you are going home”. How sweet those words were after more than three weeks in isolation in my hospital room. It was necessary but I would not miss the 2am vitals check, 5.30am blood sample, 6am vitals check, 6.30am tea, the using of a bottle instead of the toilet, the same old menu week in and week out, the drip that was connected to me 24/7…. It was all for a purpose and praise the Lord that my time in hospital was uneventful – I had no infection and my kidney survived. Oh, but the joy of coming home. Home where my children could not get enough of me – daddy must do this, I want to sit next to daddy, I want daddy to dress me, even daddy must change my nappy. It put a smile on my dial. My own bed, eating food that I want, the love, the care, being able to sleep when I want and uninterrupted at that – oh so wonderful!

Receiving platelets with Benji in the chemo clinic

So my progress is coming on in leaps and bounds or so it feels, but my blood counts remain low and actually have gone down in the last few days. I suppose now that I am not getting the medication to boost my white blood cell growth, the chemo is still killing my cells faster than the fragile stem cells are able to produce them. We will continue to trust that God will bring full healing to my body and that all this too will pass. I received another unit of platelets on Friday 24 Aug as my platelet count was down to 8 (should be >150). Thank you again to the many faithful donors who make sure that people like me can survive the dangers of high dose chemo!

Coming home made me think of what Jesus says about this life being fleeting and how we should look towards heaven. Going home to God in heaven is what lies ahead for all those who believe that Jesus is their Lord and Saviour. Jesus said “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” – John 14:2.  It is a day to look forward to but how many of us want to hold onto this life as the only life there is. Paul wrote “For me to live is Christ, and die is gain” – Phil 1:21. That was my heart’s cry when I went into surgery on 23 Jul 2011, when my life was in the balance. Once we die, we leave everything of this world behind us – we don’t get to take anything with us.  But as Christians, we have eternity in Heaven to look forward to. There is something to gain – to be with God where there will be no more pain or suffering as it says in Revelation. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”- Rev 21:3-4

Home Sweet Home

Jesus says in Matt 6:20-21 “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I find myself often living as if this world was the only world there is. My desires are of this world and I want to hold onto this world with all my might. It is all I know but Paul writes “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” – Col 3:1. It is a command and as I have journeyed through this last year of cancer I have thought less of things of this world and more about the things that are important to God – eternal things such as family, friends, those who don’t know God, the poor, being generous rather than just wanting ‘stuff’, living my life leaving a legacy of a man, father and husband who lived for God. Somehow when we go through tough times, the pleasures and desires of this world simply pale into insignificance vs. things that really matter.

Life is precious and fleeting as James writes “come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” – James 4:13-14. I want to live my life with no regrets. Put off the things of this world and strive to live for Christ so that one day when I go home I will hear Jesus say “Well done my good and faithful servant”.

“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot loose” – Jim Elliot