ON MISSIONARIES: A PERSONAL VIEW (23)

Finishing Joice’s MD Anderson journal:

Monday, July 23:

this is our first long weekend free day. Went for exercise, then breakfast and then, relaxing. My stomach feels good after the chemo. My heart sings for joy. I’ve been on the phone a while trying to get an appointment changed when we return for our checkup. MRI is scheduled for the ninth at night, so we are trying to get it changed. Not feeling very well.

Friday, July 23:

departure time. Woke up early and spent time packing and cleaning. We won’t mind not driving up four levels to the parking garage which is always a time to be alert. Will miss the exercise room because we try to keep it occupied. Besides the side effects of the radiation, this has been a good experience overall. We’ve met lovely helpful people, and we have been pleased with the treatments we have had with Dr. Frank and Megan, and many others, even Dr. B. I’m scheduled for September 8-12 for a checkup.

Tuesday, July 30.

In Duncanville and back at work, but I worked too long yesterday and was very tired. I laid down and slept for an hour but couldn’t sleep last night, so I read on the couch until after 1 AM. I will have to restrict my naps to earlier in the day.

Monday, August 5:

I didn’t sleep well and was awake after 4 AM again. Eating is still a problem. Not much of an appetite and the aftertaste is still not pleasant. 

Monday, August 12:

Trying not to be discouraged because my blocked ear from the chemo is the same. Trying a decongestant to see if that will help. At the student service meeting last week, I missed a lot of the discussion and all the prayers because of my ear.

Sunday, August 18:

Mike thinks I should try to get an appointment with Dr. Wang for my hearing problem and the discharge. We tried washing it out as doctor suggested.  I’ll try for an appointment this week. I missed a lot of a message announcements at church and when Jan spoke to me, I couldn’t hear a word she said.

Tuesday, August 20:

I had an appointment with Dr. Wong today and he was pleased to see me and the good healing from the radiation. He looked at my earring here and took me to another room where he flushed out my ear. Karl saw the treatment on the screen and said he removed a lot of tissue. He explained that the problem is from the proton radiation that burns the outer skin as well as some of the inside. He prescribed some eardrops. We stopped at CVS to get the prescription and the price was $90. Karl asked if a cheaper kind of eardrops were available and the pharmacist said yes. So, we went home and called the doctor’s office to ask for a different prescription. The nurse called back and said it is different description had been called in, and we went later to pick it up and it was now much cheaper, eight dollars. Now I am asking the Lord to make the eardrops effective.

Wednesday, August 28:

I was on my way to the dentist and as I turned from Center Street to get to Cockrell Hill, I heard a loud, thump, thump noise. Someone honked on their horn as well, so I decided I better check it out. I got out and found that the back tire on the passenger side was flat. I didn’t know what to do as I had forgotten our cell phone. Exactly at that moment a car stopped opposite me and the man said, “Can I help you?” I wasn’t afraid and he looked at me and the tire and said, “I’ll be right back.” I watched him walk to the next house, talk to a man, get a car jack and the two men as well as the second man’s wife returned. The men changed the tire in five minutes, and I was on my way!

Monday, September 9:

we are back in Houston for an appointment, and I had lab work done and x-rays. Then I went to the audiology for a hearing test, which I don’t like. They said my hearing in my left ear was about the same as eight weeks ago, but I thought it was worse. The buzzing in my ear makes sounds very difficult. The audiologist put a small slab between my ear and the side of a machine. It blocked a lot of loud noise, and I was able to endure it pretty well. I’m praising the Lord for that. We asked at the Proton Center if we could leave the car there and take the shuttle to the hospital, but they wouldn’t allow it, so we had to drive to the hospital and park the car there.

There are a few more entries in Joice’s MD Anderson journal, but she was declared “cancer free” in 2018, some five years after her surgery and proton radiation treatments. She had lost much of her hearing, but she had three more years to live before she went to heaven on March 22, 2021.

It was my privilege to walk the journey with her, to feel her pain, and to echo her praise. God gave us hope, confidence, and courage, when fear could have overwhelmed us. Trusting God is not simple or automatic for any Christian, but we found security in God’s promises and in knowing that we were united in our lives, despite some hard circumstances.

I can only praise God in humility as I have read through her MD Anderson journal, riding again the shuttle busses, looking for the correct elevators, waiting during her procedures and doctors, and praying with her every day. 

It was not a straight -line journey, but we were watched at every turn and always headed for the finish line. To God be the glory.

Karl Franklin