This is where we’re living tonight. No particular reason…just because we never stop needing to think about life this way…
Life is a troubled and winding road…switchback after switchback…and the point of biblical stories is to help us feel in our bones, not just know in our heads that God is for us in all these strange turns. The life of the godly is not a straight line to glory. It’s more like a dark and seemingly unkown trail through the mountains. There are rockslides, and slippery curves and hairpin turns that make you go backward in order to go forward, but along this hazardous, twisted road that doesn’t let you see very far ahead, and may even make you feel like you’ve been led to the edge of a cliff, God gives us encouragement and hope that all the perplexing turns of our lives are going somewhere good. Often, when we think God is farthest from us or has even turned against us, the truth is that He is laying a foundation for greater happiness in our lives. God is plotting for our joy. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ. That is a sweet and bitter providence. ~Piper
During Chase’s chemo stay this week, the Stanley Cup visited the hospital!
Two years ago, Coach Quenneville brought the Cup to the old hospital and vowed that he would bring it back again, and on Tuesday, he did just that.
It was an honor to be part of such a special promise-keeping as the coach and other significant members of the Blackhawks’ organization poured 219 small pieces of paper, for the 219 children staying in the hospital that day, into the Cup to make the kids part of the win.
We were allowed to have a picture with the Cup, but after a long night of chemo, Chase lay exhausted in his stroller. Undaunted by the surgery scar, the white skin or the IVs protruding from his tiny body, Coach Q hoisted the cup and brought it down to Chase, all the while, talking kindly and softly to him and encouraging him that it was okay to touch the trophy. Chase doesn’t always respond well to strangers and especially not in a crowd (and this crowd had a lot of flashing cameras too), but he responded to the Coach and touched the Cup…and then, even though he didn’t take his thumb out of his mouth, he gave a big smile.
[We later learned that Chase thought he had been going to view the “Piston Cup” from the Cars movie…which also explains some of his initial hesitation.]
As we thanked the Coach and moved to make room for the next family, he stopped us and asked how Chase was doing in his fight against cancer. He absolutely didn’t have to do that, and yet, he took the time. In that moment, we caught a glimpse of the humble leader. No wonder these guys brought the Cup home again.
[for more pictures of Chase and the Stanley Cup’s visit to the hospital, please visit Chase Away Cancer, Chicago Blackhawks, or Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago on Facebook]
Because of Chase’s second line infection, “the powers that be” decided to hold all chemo until the antibiotic finished, thereby giving Chase his largest break from chemo since March. Almost four whole weeks in-between cycles!
We were able to do some fun things with him and we also had a new experience: his blood counts dropped significantly after he’d recovered from chemo. They bumped back to “normal” after a transfusion, but it made us realize that our dream -that he will finish his chemo, grow his hair back, pink his skin up, and never again be in the hospital except for scans- may be slightly…okay, very flawed. Having his counts drop was just a momentary reiteration that Chase is sick and he’s been through hell and back in treatments and that is not going to go away overnight…and possibly not ever. God, give us strength to handle that time when we get there.
Playing with Grandma during the transfusion – before meeting “Girl”
A comical sidenote from his transfusion: I am becoming more and more convinced that central line pieces were not designed for active three-year olds. In typical Chase fashion, he was so active as he was receiving his packed red blood cells that the pressure cap on the end of his line loosened, dousing his shirt, shorts, and the bed in bright red blood. He saw it and started screaming “Blood! Blood!” which, of course, brought almost every nurse in the infusion center running into his room. He was completely fine. In fact, he went on to make friends with a little girl in the playroom who he named “Girl“, and when he was discharged, he went to find her, crossed his ankles, put his hands on his hips and said: “Girl? Girl! I have a problem. I have to go home now, but you will be alright. Okay?” Just a couple of the many, many moments in which we find ourselves shrugging, smiling, and saying “It’s Chase” when we’re at the hospital.
Playing with his friend Lucas (also on chemo for Leukemia) in the inpatient playroom
With his counts finally recovered and antibiotics complete, he restarted chemo on Monday and was in the hospital for three days, in which time, he managed to stay central line issue-free, but felt the need to allocate world-class neuro specialists for things other than cancer…like taking a header out of the hospital bed. He was deemed “stable” enough to be brought home, but he has a large “squishy” section to his head (he calls it his “squishy baseball“) and we are to call his doctors immediately if there is the slightest change to his condition. So, we watch, above and beyond, almost bordering on stalking him, and actively resist the urge to bubble wrap him as he attempts to play with his siblings in the backyard.
The “squishy baseball” – the view hardly does justice to his bruised cranium appearing to blow a large bubble, but it’s the general idea
At this moment, our hope and prayer is to get him through the weekend without needing to run to the ER for any reason. And as these stories show, we often go from weeping to laughing to feeling overwhelmed and back again…sometimes all three at once, which is why we are taking the days…
Chase’s next chemo treatment has been delayed due to a staph infection (which he’s being treated for at home, and he feels fine), so his blood counts are GREAT, and he feels really good, so this break is allowing us to do some cool things, like GO TO A SOX GAME!
A few months back, someone called the White Sox and suggested that they might help our family out in some way, and the White Sox were SO generous to give us a suite in this last Saturday’s game against the Cleveland Indians.
Chase was so excited to go…
We had some church friends that were visiting from Delaware, so they were able to join us, too, as well as some other old (and new) friends who were at the game, too:
Our family had a great time (and the kids got a cool hat and shirt, too)… thank you, White Sox!
