A Roller Coaster Ride is Great....But Sometimes You Just Want to Throw Up!

Early on in my blogging I described our faith journey as a roller coaster ride -- twists and turns, and ups and down, and throwing our hands up in the air and enjoying the ride!! But, as a friend shared with recently….roller coaster rides make her want to throw up! And, I'll admit..I've had days like that recently. Just when we thought we'd made some progress, another "mechanical" difficulty causes our ride to come to a screeching halt and the "TEMPORARILY OUT OF ORDER" sign is put on the gate.

The above photo is of Ron a few weeks ago enjoying a ride on the jump seat of a Gulf Stream Jet, which we enjoyed traveling on with our son and his team as we flew to New York City to be a part of his company going public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Indeed, we were flying high…and now, here we are….updating our blog from his hospital room again.

It’s been another faith-challenged, but faith-filled, week. Whew!! Wednesday night I rushed Ron to the E.R. at the Tulsa Spine & Specialty Hospital at the instructions of his neuro surgeon. He was experiencing excruciating, debilitating pain in his back (comparing it to a knife). Immediately they administered IVs, did blood tests, MRIs, CT scans and x-rays. The pain was so extreme they had to give him sedatives that put him out, literally, until Friday evening. On Thursday night he began running a fever of 104 degrees, and had a high white blood cell count, plus other factors that showed inflammation in his body. Today, we received the confirmed report that he has a serious staph infection that will require weeks of antibiotics via I.V. They expect to keep him here in the hospital through the end of next week. That is the immediate course of action. And, then there’s the other factor – we were suppose to have started chemo on Thursday, but this current challenge prohibited that, and the infection doctor says that chemo needs to be stalled until the infection is cleared up. Then there’s the oncologist that says the cancer is so fast moving that he must start the chemo as soon as possible.

Early on in this journey, we, as a family, agreed that Ron would be the "Pilot of this jet ride" and agreed that the decisions God led him to make regarding his own health course of action, would be the direction we would take. Little did we realize there might be times when we had to step in as the co-pilots, to make serious decisions for him. I’ll admit my vulnerability in the natural – just seeing this strong, man of action and power being in such a place, but as I watch him sleep, I continue to stand in faith and believe that “God is making him lie down in green pastures, leading him beside still waters to restore his soul and body”. I ultimately believe that God is working this all for our good, that there is an awesome Master Plan going on. It was such a testimony of that plan as the Infectious Disease doctor heard Ron, today, tell the story of his Dad's healing from cancer and then Ron declared "God is no respecter of persons" -- He can do that for me." Daily I declare my favorite scripture these days -- Psalms 118:17 -- "He will live and not die and will declare the works of our God." Actually, I’m going to start looking for a renown publisher very soon, to be able to support our best selling book on “Peace in the Midst of the Storm; Walking on the Water; Do Not Fear – Only Believe; God is Faithful; etc. etc. etc.” Please continue to pray for us, specifically, that this infection must bow to the name of Jesus and that the intended purposes of the medications are successful and the side effects of any and all medications that he takes are rendered null and void; that the medical team we have is hearing God’s voice and acting on His wisdom and that we remain calm, focused on God’s unfailing promises and that we will be strong soldiers in this “good fight of faith”! Love you all so much! Donna