So this is the story...

Ed (not his real name, for you new readers) has been suffering from tonsillitis this spring. Several visits with doctor improved the sore throat, but his pallor seemed to worsen as the weeks went by.

On Tuesday we visited with his psychiatrist and he suggested another visit to our family practice doc. I went home and made the appointment. ..for this upcoming Monday.

It was Thursday when things turned worse, and Urgent Care seemed a real necessity by 9:00 pm that evening. We were thinking an antibiotic might be a wise thing to start again.

Well, the doc at urgent care said, "This is weird."

Blood tests revealed a problem. Low hemoglobin at first, she was thinking a blood transfusion necessary. She called the emergency room of our local hospital. Ed was on his way there.

It was there we heard the word "luekemia," and learned that Ed's red cblood cells and platelets were really low. We also learned that his white cells, though normal in number, were messed up. The nice doctor advised us to make tracks to the emergency room of the children's hospital.

Don't wait, he said.

My husband was on a business trip, and his plane was delayed getting home. My text messages weren't to reach him until he landed at 1:00 am in Minneapolis.

"Meet me at the hospital," I text messaged to him.

At the Children's hospital ER there were more hints of what was to come.

"We're 85% sure this is luekemia," said the ER doc.
"We will admit Ed for a biopsy and further tests."

That 15% became very much hoped for, still we were anxious to find out WHAT was going on in Ed's body.

The biopsy was positive for leukemia, we were going to be in for it.

That's how a visit to Urgent Care ended in a hospital stay.

Now we wait while a port is put in, a spinal tap is done, and the first dosage in a three year course of chemotherapy meds is administered.

What we ask and wish for is your continued prayers for Ed.

I am relying on super strength from our Heavenly Father, as our whole family is doing.

There are millions of thoughts and feelings swirling in my head. I am grateful to Elisabeth Elliot for her excellent advise to "do the next thing." Crises can take over our lives, and the best way to get through each moment is to KEEP ON.

So we are going to keep on.

Quite frankly I have no idea what we're in for, and I'm going to have to learn a lot quickly.

God knows. He's got this.