Very Disappointing News

As you know, we've been waiting for Eric's dad to finish the very final testing in order to set the date for the kidney transplant. He had been determined to be a healthy match in February. We expected to find out surgery dates either this week or next. Instead, Eric's dad was thrown out of the program (it's official, they won't change their minds) due to an irregular prostate test. The prostate test suggests that his dad might have prostate cancer.

I can't tell you what a blow this is. The past almost year that Eric has been on dialysis has been the most difficult year for us to date. He is miserable, walking around with 3 liters of fluid in his abdomen (although he hides this very well around others). He vomits almost every day. His ribs hurt because of the weight of the dialysis fluid in his body. Every night we endure dozens of alarms with his dialysis machine. His muscle movements when he sleeps are so strong that I'm struggling to remain sleeping in our bed with him (even with a sleeping pill and ear plugs it's next to impossible to sleep). His blood sugars are extremely difficult to control because the dialysis fluid is filled with sugar (which puts his remaining vision at risk). His immune system is so torn up that he gets sick with cold/flu very often, and it seems to always turn into bronchitis or pneumonia. His self-image is struggling because the fluid makes him look like he's 7 months pregnant. His body gets horrible cramps as a side effect. And we thought we were so close to being done with this chapter....

Please pray for my husband. We have (on average) another 2 years of waiting for him to get a donor from the cadaver list, and the thought of going another two years like this feels like a lifetime. I just don't know if his body can do that. And even if his body can, his spirit is wavering. I know that I will probably lose my husband early, but I don't want it to be THIS early. I'm just not ready. Of course I never will be. God's will be done, but I hope that isn't His will.

Please pray that a donor is found. We're now forced to move outside of his immediate family into extended family and friends. It gets a lot harder to find a match. I'll begin the process to see if I can donate, but we pray that the Lord provides another source for the kidney so that our children are insured that at least one of their parents will still be here after this process.

Please pray for James, Eric's dad. Pray that this test was inaccurate and that no cancer is found.We know the Lord has a purpose in all of this. We know He has not left us and that He has a plan for us that will glorify Him.

We will do our best to be patient until the day that He provides an answer to our prayers.

Anita