April 27, 2017: Day +157

Tonight our friends Will, Sherry, Ingrid and Jerry brought us dinner and spent the evening with us visiting.  It was wonderful to have a delicious dinner and such wonderful company.  We talked about lots of things, but eventually the conversation drifted to how Doug was doing and about the progress he has made over the last few months.  Jerry commented that he had not seen Doug for a few weeks and could see a lot of progress over that time.   Everyone else agreed. I said I think it is a little harder for me to see the progress since I with him so much now.

We talked about the dark and scary times when Doug was so sick in December and January. Thinking back to the days that the doctors did not think he was going to make or recover the way he has is remarkable.  I have never been around someone who is paralyzed before or with someone who recovers from paralysis and so I don't have any perspective.  I just know how grateful I am for his continued progress.

We talked some about Doug's stem cell transplant and wondering if there is still hope that the progression has been stopped. We can only hope.  There is no way to know yet.  There are some things that Doug seems to have improved with.  He seems to have fewer difficulties with choking. and seems less fatigued.  While he does get very tired with the exercises he does not need to nap as often and he is less likely to fall asleep during the day.  Dr. Federenko from Russia who has been doing HSCT with patients with MS for many, many years says that he has found that most patients show the most recovery beginning at 9 months after transplant. I think it is a good reminder for all of our HSCT friends to be patient and continue to hope for recovery.  We remain hopeful that Doug will experience an end to his MS as we pray for all our friends who went through HSCT to recover from this terrible disease.

Tonight I am including some pictures from our fundraising event that we had in October.  Sherry shared them with me.  I think it is important to remember why we are on this journey.  While we have experienced a setback with Doug's illness, we have not given up hope.  We continue to pray for healing and wholeness.

God of Healing, we give thanks for your healing presence that is with us when we sit in prayer, when we sit with friends and when we see evidence of new life around us.  We give you thanks for the gift of community. We are grateful that we are surrounded by others who hold a vision of healing for Doug. We pray that our faith will be sustained and our hope for healing with not be diminished as we continue to climb the long hill of recovery. God of Healing, be will all those who struggle, who are sick and for those who are discouraged.  We pray that their eyes may be opened their faith strengthened as they witness your healing power in the world.  Amen