We met Dr. Ashish Bakshi this evening and he said that Dad is all set for his third dose of chemotherapy tomorrow. The blood tests are what can be expected for a person on chemo - WBCs 'low', platelets 'low' but not disatrously so. Dad has a healthy appetite. We think he gained a whole kilo from last week. A certain ice-cream cake has been dissappearing from the fridge (more on the cake later).
The short and sweet of it is that Dad is well enough for his next dose of chemo - which brings us to the end of round 1 - of 6! Thanks for all your prayers. Dad seems to have taken doses 1 + 2 really well, and we hope and pray that dose 3 will be more of the same.
It's been an interesting few days since Sheba and Asha (and Asha's friend Jemima) scooted off to Lakhnadon on Friday night. Enoch was here with us for the weekend and played 'caps cricket' with Yohan (one of the games he has invented with his collection of fizzy-drinks caps).
Having discovered that you can watch the Indian Premier League on streaming internet for free - we have had our share of cricket matches being seen by young E. The caps game has inticrate rules and eleborate scoring - which both boys go in for with glee (and which sounds like a constant low-level squabbling to the untrained ear).
Sunday evening was wonderful - and a bit wierd. With Sheba and Asha away - we celebrated a birthday - of our dear Jasper Gabriel. We are normally up in the cool of Mussoorie - so have not celebrated it much over the years - but with John being out of town for most of this week, the family came over for some festivity - and to be with Oma and Opa too.
Enoch and Yohan did their bit in getting the premises ready for the big bash:
Could we really have had 12 years go by since we welcomed Jasper into this spinning world of ours on the 13th of May 2003?
What a lovely young lady she has become!
It is a special joy to see someone flowering into personhood when we have been with her at every stage of her life so far.
Today we see a confident and sensitive person who has the world at her feet.
'Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart' was our prayer for Jasper - and for all of us. As we shift our eyes away from what are often cheap thrills - and draw deep from the Lord Himself, how much our cup flows over.
And how much our cup flowed over with the joy of having John and Nalini with us for the evening.
One of the many lessons that Dad's cancer teaches us is that simple basic (and so, so often forgotten) one of just how valuable each person is - and how precious our relationships are.
Over and over again I have wondered at the deep outpouring of love that so many have for Mum and Dad. What is striking that it is both from people who go back 40+ years with them - and also folks (like the entire nursing team from the 5th floor of Bethany Hospital) who have just gotten to know them recently.
A wonderful heritage of love. And a testimony to how God has been shaping Dad and Mum over the years - so that during the times of trial, what spills out of them is love.
Talking to Dr. Stephen Alfred earlier this afternoon, he told me that in Dad's recent minor surgery to install the chemo port, they had put a sheet over Dad's head to keep any infection from entering the site of the insertion. While this sheet was covering Dad, Dr. Stephen asked him whether he was uncomfortable with the sheet on - and Dad responded that he was thinking of the people in Nepal who had been trapped in the rubble - the many who died and the many, many who were wounded.
Mum continues to be a solid rock.
Despite age and the heat (somewhat modified, of course by having the AC on in their room in the nights and some afternoons) - and despite all the challenges she is going through - this is one determined German lady.
But Mum is also one who is able to adapt to things. "In acceptance is strength" is what she told me a number of times recently. Accepting when things don't turn out exactly like we want them to. A valuable lesson for us all to learn.
Mum loves flowers, of course. And delights in seeing beauty around her - esp as the tree next to our kitchen has ignited itself into a fire storm of red:
Yesterday morning I dropped off Enoch at his dear friend Mark's home. Going over for the early-morning drop gave me a good excuse to have breakfast with our dear friends Drs. SP and Vinita Mathew. Their continued generosity and joy in life are bracing tonic for us all. Hats off to such lovely folk. Enoch agrees whole-heartedly and has been having the time of his life for the past 2 days with them.
I will sign of with this picture. Dad and Enoch in prayer. Grandfather and grandson. We wish that Dad didn't have cancer. But are so, so blessed to have Dad and Mum with us during these days.
How much our loving heavenly Father yearns to hold us in His arms. They are open, but are we willing. Do we rest our head on His shoulder... or are we still running and running and trying to scrape by on our own sweat and saliva.
As Dad is sleeping peacefully tonight, we entrust tomorrow and all it entails into the hands of our loving Lord Jesus. Tomorrow we expect more of the same - love lived out, in so many ways.
It is really, really odd to have Sheba and Asha in Madhya Pradesh, Enoch in Borivali and for Yohan and I to be with Mum and Dad here in Thane. But we know that He who holds the future is also holding all of us in His hands.
The short and sweet of it is that Dad is well enough for his next dose of chemo - which brings us to the end of round 1 - of 6! Thanks for all your prayers. Dad seems to have taken doses 1 + 2 really well, and we hope and pray that dose 3 will be more of the same.
It's been an interesting few days since Sheba and Asha (and Asha's friend Jemima) scooted off to Lakhnadon on Friday night. Enoch was here with us for the weekend and played 'caps cricket' with Yohan (one of the games he has invented with his collection of fizzy-drinks caps).
Having discovered that you can watch the Indian Premier League on streaming internet for free - we have had our share of cricket matches being seen by young E. The caps game has inticrate rules and eleborate scoring - which both boys go in for with glee (and which sounds like a constant low-level squabbling to the untrained ear).
Sunday evening was wonderful - and a bit wierd. With Sheba and Asha away - we celebrated a birthday - of our dear Jasper Gabriel. We are normally up in the cool of Mussoorie - so have not celebrated it much over the years - but with John being out of town for most of this week, the family came over for some festivity - and to be with Oma and Opa too.
Enoch and Yohan did their bit in getting the premises ready for the big bash:
Could we really have had 12 years go by since we welcomed Jasper into this spinning world of ours on the 13th of May 2003?
What a lovely young lady she has become!
It is a special joy to see someone flowering into personhood when we have been with her at every stage of her life so far.
Today we see a confident and sensitive person who has the world at her feet.
'Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart' was our prayer for Jasper - and for all of us. As we shift our eyes away from what are often cheap thrills - and draw deep from the Lord Himself, how much our cup flows over.
And how much our cup flowed over with the joy of having John and Nalini with us for the evening.
One of the many lessons that Dad's cancer teaches us is that simple basic (and so, so often forgotten) one of just how valuable each person is - and how precious our relationships are.
Over and over again I have wondered at the deep outpouring of love that so many have for Mum and Dad. What is striking that it is both from people who go back 40+ years with them - and also folks (like the entire nursing team from the 5th floor of Bethany Hospital) who have just gotten to know them recently.
A wonderful heritage of love. And a testimony to how God has been shaping Dad and Mum over the years - so that during the times of trial, what spills out of them is love.
Talking to Dr. Stephen Alfred earlier this afternoon, he told me that in Dad's recent minor surgery to install the chemo port, they had put a sheet over Dad's head to keep any infection from entering the site of the insertion. While this sheet was covering Dad, Dr. Stephen asked him whether he was uncomfortable with the sheet on - and Dad responded that he was thinking of the people in Nepal who had been trapped in the rubble - the many who died and the many, many who were wounded.
Mum continues to be a solid rock.
Despite age and the heat (somewhat modified, of course by having the AC on in their room in the nights and some afternoons) - and despite all the challenges she is going through - this is one determined German lady.
But Mum is also one who is able to adapt to things. "In acceptance is strength" is what she told me a number of times recently. Accepting when things don't turn out exactly like we want them to. A valuable lesson for us all to learn.
Mum loves flowers, of course. And delights in seeing beauty around her - esp as the tree next to our kitchen has ignited itself into a fire storm of red:
Yesterday morning I dropped off Enoch at his dear friend Mark's home. Going over for the early-morning drop gave me a good excuse to have breakfast with our dear friends Drs. SP and Vinita Mathew. Their continued generosity and joy in life are bracing tonic for us all. Hats off to such lovely folk. Enoch agrees whole-heartedly and has been having the time of his life for the past 2 days with them.
I will sign of with this picture. Dad and Enoch in prayer. Grandfather and grandson. We wish that Dad didn't have cancer. But are so, so blessed to have Dad and Mum with us during these days.
How much our loving heavenly Father yearns to hold us in His arms. They are open, but are we willing. Do we rest our head on His shoulder... or are we still running and running and trying to scrape by on our own sweat and saliva.
As Dad is sleeping peacefully tonight, we entrust tomorrow and all it entails into the hands of our loving Lord Jesus. Tomorrow we expect more of the same - love lived out, in so many ways.
It is really, really odd to have Sheba and Asha in Madhya Pradesh, Enoch in Borivali and for Yohan and I to be with Mum and Dad here in Thane. But we know that He who holds the future is also holding all of us in His hands.
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