February 13, 2017: Day +86

It is the eve before Valentine's Day.  Doug has been asking about Valentine's Day for over a week and wondering if we can have a dinner delivered.It is really very sweet.  Here he is, laying in a hospital bed, but wanting to do something to celebrate Valentine's Day.  It would be so easy to just ignore it this year.  In fact, he is not suppose to be eating out until Day +90 according to directions that many of us were given after transplant.  There are a variety of opinions about this.  According to the doctors we have right now he is OK to eat restaurant food if his blood counts are in the average range.  Honestly,  this does not seem like the riskiest thing for us to do right now, because being in a hospital with all that he has gone through seems much riskier.  Still, I have been very cautious.  If we can tip the scale of wellness in Doug's direction I certainly want to do that. With me being sick, I think we will celebrate with a nice dinner from a nice restaurant on Day +90 where I can give them special directions to assure his safety.  And hopefully on Day +90 I will be over my illness.

I stayed home again today.  I continued to run a fever through the night and could not sleep, waking often with coughing.  By this afternoon my temperature came down and I could finally sleep.  A number of times over the last few months I would really have liked to have had a couple of days off with nothing to do; but being sick was not how I imagined that working out.  It is not quite the same.  Still I am grateful to be home. I have not spent any real time here since last October, other than to sleep.  And it was nice to have Stryder here with me, constantly at my side. And thanks to Jerry, Ingrid and Penny, Doug was not alone. He is so thankful for this company.

This Camino has lots of twists and turns.  My friend Jodee left a funny comment on the blog today. She said I  being ill was like we stayed at a bad hostel on the journey. l will have to be careful not to stay there again!  She made me laugh.  Another woman Alli, who has been following the blog left a comment a few days ago. She said that she is recovering from HSCT for MS in Traverse City, Michigan her childhood home.  She is a friend of Jackie's, who had treatment with Doug in Mexico. Jackie had asked her to pray for Doug and I.  It turns out she is an Episcopalian, like us and grew up attending Grace Church in Traverse City.   Doug and I served at Grace Church in Nampa.  But there is another connection as well.  I had never heard of Traverse City, until Angie and I walked the Camino de Santiago a couple of years ago.  We spent the last week with a woman named Jill.  Our intention has been to get back together with Jill again and we have not made that happen yet.  We shared some important parts of our Camino, both of the heart and of the commitment to complete this Camino, with Jill.  Jill had two other friends she was walking with, and I have forgotten their names for now, but not them.  They had both recently retired, she from being a teacher and he, as a hospital chaplain.  During those last days we shared much from our hearts and lives.  We spoke of books we had read and where our life journeys' would now lead.

Now, on my fourth pilgrimage for healing, I find it ever  so interesting to be connected to Traverse City again.  I wrote a few quotes from my friends that I wanted to remember.  This one stands out for me. I believe it came from a book, but I don't have the authors name.

"Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best thing.  And no good thing ever dies."

This seems like a very good quote to ponder this night.  This night before Valentine's Day. I continue to hope in the healing power of love and in our God who is love. Look at the chance of meeting these fellow perigrinos from Traverse City who were seeking healing. Many say, there are no chances.

God of Possibilities, thank you for showing us what is possible that some might consider only chance. Thank you for bringing people into our lives to walk this journey with us and people who bring light to the path.  "Help us to remember that "Hope is a good thing.  Maybe the best thing. And no good thing ever dies." Amen