"Wait on the Lord; Be of Good courage; and He will
strengthen thine heart."
Good Morning, folks. Another glorious day is dawning
here in Baltimore at St. Joseph's Manor - my home away from home. My
sisters, Mary, Terry, and Cathy, are off to daily Mass at the retirement home
chapel and I sit on the sun porch of our lovely little "guest
cottage" and give thanks and praise to God for another day of healing and
another day that brings me closer to returning to my home and family at St.
Paul. I would normally be with them but at this time I'm battling one of
the effects of the bone marrow transplant. This too shall pass.
Just one more step on the road to recovery.
Today is a day off from the usual routine of
going to the "outpatient center" at the hospital. I'm now
going in only every other day to have blood drawn and "counted", my
"electrolytes" analyzed, and any "help" that I might need
on a given day provided. Some days I wonder why I'm here at all, I feel
so good. Others, I know quite clearly why I'm here. Fatigue and
the interminable boredom of waiting weigh heavily on me. I'm in the
beginning stages of what they call "Graft Versus Host Disease", a
condition that in small doses is actually good for me. In fact, my
doctor in the outpatient clinic, upon seeing the first signs of GVHD, said
"You get an A+." Apparently it's a sign that the marrow that
Terry donated has begun to engraft and do the things that healthy marrow is
supposed to do. Tomorrow they'll begin to treat it and get it under
control. Until then...Well, I wait. This is surely a
"funny" disease and healing process. The doctors do all they
can to keep me from having any infection or other problem, all the time hoping
that I'll develop some kind of infection so they'll be able to see if my
system will fight it. Go figure!
Keep praying for me folks. I still need those prayers
and will for some time to come (when do we ever stop standing in the need of
prayer?). My doctors here continue to be amazed at how quickly I'm
progressing and how well I handle all the different procedures I've gone
through. I just keep teling them that I've got an awful lot of help.
Prayers from Memphis and from around the world. I know that I am without
question the most blessed man here at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I am
forever indebted to you all for your prayers, support, and joy that sustain me
in this time. You are in my prayers every day as well.
I look forward to the day when I will celebrate the
Eucharist with you again. Until then, cvontinue to support Fr. Tagg and
Fr. Murray - how blessed we are to have them. Continue to support one
another with your love and fellowship.
In the peace of Christ
Fr. Rick