Thursday, July 15, 2010

No easy way

Chris has T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma and for the past 2 months has been pretty miserable as he has battled his cancer. The cancer has affected his spleen and his lymph nodes, both of which have become quite swollen. As a result his abdomen is huge and his neck is swollen almost to the point of making it hard for him to breathe. He responded initially to chemo and had about 2 wks where he was ok, but since then the cancer has continued to grow despite trying 2 different chemo regimens.
When his parents brought him in today, he looked even worse than he normally does. His parents said his abdomen is even larger, the growths in his neck have kept growing, and now he is having difficulty seeing. They looked to me for help, for hope and for healing, but medically I had none to offer. The limited chemo meds that I have here, I had already tried on him, but the cancer kept growing. There is no easy way to tell a family their young child is going to die, but that is what I had to do. I told them I can give pain meds, but I don't have any other meds to offer to get rid of his cancer. I had to repeat this a few times, as mom kept telling me all the things wrong with him, but finally, both her and dad understood. The tears came to their eyes as they grasped that their son would soon lose his battle with cancer.
While fighting my own tears, I prayed with them. They thanked me for my effort and we shook hands as they got up to leave. As mom turned to go, she put Chris on her shoulder and I put my hand on his head and rubbed it as he left in his mom's arms and continued to pray for him.
Ps 146:5-9 "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them - the Lord, who remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked."
2 Cor 1:3 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort."