Dear all,
David will be going for donor stem cell transplant soon. The result of his last BMA done on 10May showed only 2% cancerous cells left. Praise the Lord! We are trusting God to clean up all the myeloma cells and restore David to perfect health. As Joshua (our 4 year old son, who is turning 5 soon) shared with me the other day after we prayed: "Mummy, I felt so good after praying (heaved a sigh of relief), maybe now only 1% left, then 0% and no more." Yes, we are claiming total healing for his daddy by faith in Jesus our Lord.
David will be admitted to SGH tomorrow to begin a series of conditioning preparation for the stem cells. This include 3 days high dose chemo from 28May to 30May, full body radiotherapy on 01Jun morning so he is ready for the stem cell infusion on 01Jun. For details, you may refer to our blog on "Details of BMT".
The estimated hospital stay is at least 23 days. After the transplant, close monitoring of David's condition is required to detect any sign of infections, complications, rejections and what is called GVHD (graft vs host disease) - a condition whereby the grafted stem cell (ie donor cells) attack the patient's cells or organs. The effect of GVHD ranges from skin rashes to life threatening conditions. Something we need to pray against. Lets pray that only remaining cancerous cells will be wiped out and all healthy cells remain unaffected.
After his discharge from the hospital when his condition stablises, regular monitoring about 2 or 3 times medical checkup at the hospital per week will be required for the initial 100 days of the transplant. Thereafter, once a month for the first year after transplant.
We are very thankful that some friends and loved ones even took the initiative to oragnise prayer groups to fast and pray for David. We are also very glad to know that some people were encouraged through our testimonies in our blog of the Lord's goodness and love not just for our family but to all who call upon His name. Let us continue to pray for each other and draw near to God.
As you remember David in your prayers, please pray:
1. that David's mind, soul, body and spirit will be ready for what he will need to go through. That he will be able to focus on our Lord Jesus and find strength to bear all things.
2. for smooth insertion of the CVC on 27May - a hollow silicon tube to be inserted into his vein below his collar bone to facilitate the aministration of chemo treatment, drawing of blood for tests, stem cell infusion etc. Pray that the radiologist will be skillful in doing it and that if possible be painless for David. Pray for protection from risk of punctured lungs and from fever and infections.
3. for Angie, his sister who is the stem cell donor to respond well to the 2 injections of GCSF per day from 27May to 31May. The injections are necessary to facilitate stem cells collection from 30May to 02Jun. Pray that Angie will not experience any pain and discomfort and that the desired amount of quality stem cells can be collected.
4. that the high dose chemo and full body radiotherapy will completely destroy the diseased cells in his body without the usual side effects and no risk of donated stem cells be rejected
5. that when his immunity is low, he will not be infected by any virus, bacteria or any kind of infections etc
6. that after the stem cells infusion, the donated cells will grow and achieve the desired result
7. that in the event if AB+ platelets are needed, the potential donors who had gone for screening will be available to donate the needed platelets. (Really very grateful to each and every one of the 10 potential donors for their kind offer to help)
8. for Joshua to be healthy (he was down with fever yesterday but thank God is well now) and for me too, that I will be a good caregiver.
Thank you very much!
Just want to let you know in case some of you have problem logging onto our blog - every prayer request for David's last hospitalisation from 18Apr to 05May (in my e-mail dated 15Apr) was answered. Praise be to our awesome God! Thanks for praying. Your prayers mean so much to us!
Thanks & God bless,
Whee Ling
P/S: I will still check my e-mail from time to time and David may also have access to his e-mail and our blog (if he is not too tired to read). We love to hear from you - so do encourage us if you have a message, a verse, a prayer or just a note to say hello.
