Friendship and A Change of Plans

Saturday morning update -- Things have taken a bad turn for the worse with my friend Margaret's condition as she has started bleeding into her lungs. The decision has been made to leave everything in God's hands and to pray for peace and comfort for Margaret. She has fought the most difficult battle with horrendous infection for the past three months trying to get to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas for a second bone marrow transplant. The first transplant was successful, giving her 5 strong years, cancer free before her bone marrow gave out late last fall.

While cancer has not lived in her body for over five years, I will always know that it is the cancer that is responsible for her condition. How I hate that disease.

Please pray for her comfort and for peace for all those who love and care about her.

Thursday afternoon update -- Margaret was weaned off of the ventilator today. As I understand it, they are confident that this relapse was due to changes in medication that affected her heartbeat as well as allowing the infection to re-establish itself. They were able to start her back on the protocol she was on before the relapse and she is responding well at this early stage. As tenacious as this infection seems to be, apparently it is not as strong-willed as Margaret is. They will work to get her out of the CV-ICU and into a regular room before trying to transport her to Baylor by air ambulance, possibly by the middle of next week. Once she is safely at Baylor, I will feel comfortable about proceeding with my own plans. I am very appreciative of the prayers spoken for my friend and grateful to the gracious God that hears us all.

As quickly as the good news came the other day about Margaret, the bad news came just as quickly early yesterday morning that she had relapsed and was back in the CV-ICU of the local hospital where she has been off and on for the past three months. Before they were able to release her Monday for the trip to Baylor Medical in Dallas, her infection returned with a vengeance, attacking her so severely this time that she was placed on a ventilator during the early hours of Tuesday morning. At that time, they were also discussing the possibility of getting her to the Baylor facility by air ambulance but they later decided that was not a viable choice at this time.

When I got the call, I was preparing my list of the things I needed to do before leaving for Indiana and my annual trip with Mom to Tennessee for the Memorial Day weekend. As I got more information about Margaret, it made me re-think my plans.

While I didn't want to miss the trip with mom, as I believe this is likely our last time to make the trek together, neither did I want to leave with things up in the air about Margaret. I considered some alternatives. One being that my sister might want to do this trip with mom, as we had discussed the possibility of her coming to meet us anyway. The other option would be to cancel the plans for the holiday weekend and make the trip later. After discussing the situation with them, we chose the second option, since time was short for my sister to get arrangements made to get up to mom's and then on to Tennessee. I will go up to mom's as soon as I know Margaret is stabilized and we will simply make the trip at a different time. My sister can still come to meet us if she wants to. Sometimes things just work out for the best.

As for Margaret, well today things sound a little better. They're talking about the possibility of weaning her off of the ventilator starting tomorrow. Even after she gets off the ventilator, she will be back where she was at a month ago, so this is a real set back for her. The situation is serious but we have to believe that she can still get to Baylor and have a successful transplant.

Thanks to all who may choose to utter a prayer on Margaret's behalf or have done so from one my previous requests here or here.

(Now playing: I'm A Survivor by Reba McEntire in honor of my friend Margaret who is and will continue to be a survivor.)