Thankful on the Cancer Wing?

Having just celebrated what is one of my very favorite holidays of the year, I’m reflecting a little on thankfulness.  It is 1:30AM as I sit here at Kosair Children’s Hospital in my University of Kentucky lounge pants (real men don’t wear pajamas).  My son has been a patient here on the oncology floor for the last two weeks.  What we hoped would be a relatively uneventful round of chemo to treat his leukemia relapse turned into a full blown septic infection in his bloodstream as well as a fungal infection in his lungs.  With no immunity because of the chemo treatments, he has been in a very precarious position.  It has taken constant care, constant treatment, a herd of doctors and nurses, round-the-clock attention from his mother and me, a can-do attitude from Brad, plus much prayer just to keep our noses above the water line. 

It has been challenging to balance work schedules and commitments.  It has been extremely stressful to deal with the health cliffs on every front.  It is excruciating to watch my son suffer.  We have necessarily been isolated from friends and family.  I haven’t been able to keep up with personal business.  We were very disappointed not to be home for Thanksgiving.  I have missed the entire deer season so far (not a small thing if it’s in your blood).  In short, it has been a rough fall.

In spite of all of this, our stay at Kosair has shown me I have so much to be thankful for (grammar Nazis please overlook dangling preposition).  Just yesterday, I witnessed the crest-fallen family of an eleven year-old girl load up and go home.  After some very difficult and extended years of treatment, they have been told there is nothing more to be done.  Mom, Dad, Sister, Grandma - they are all going home to watch their daughter die.

You see some very difficult family situations here.  I am thankful to have a loving, godly and grounded wife and two godly, intelligent and gifted sons.  Bradley is having a challenging time right now, but he’s still Bradley.  I may not like being here, but I am thankful there is an excellent hospital with skilled medical staff so easily accessible to us.  I only go home every other day, but I do get to go home.  I have an extra version of my favorite pillow that I can leave here at the hospital, so that I don’t have to put up with the head-sweat generated by Kosair’s vinyl loaner pillows.  We have great family and friends who have supported us every step of the way.  We each have a relationship with Christ and a peace-producing certainty that we will spend our eternities with God.

I can really identify with the words of the apostle Paul from Philippians chapter 4:

Philippians 4:10-14 (HCSB)
¹⁰ I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it. ¹¹ I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. ¹² I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. ¹³ I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me. ¹⁴ Still, you did well by sharing with me in my hardship.

Good times or bad, plenty or want – the peace of God and the love of family and friends is something money can’t buy.  These things are also priceless items which no one can take from us.  That is something to appreciate, even from a hard mat with coarse sheets at 2AM on the cancer wing of Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.