You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬ ‭MSG‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/97/mat.5.3.MSG

This scripture was part of the message from Pastor Wes at Oasis Church this morning.
We certainly identified with the message and have definitely reached the end of our rope, and are leaning on God to see us through.It’s amazing when you do that, the peace and joy that you experience, in spite of difficult circumstances.

I don’t know if you remember almost 2 weeks ago when I took Garry to the ER at SBGH that the doctor indicated Garry had a troponin level of 400 which indicated a heart attack.
They repeated the bloodwork, which began to go down and so he felt that it wasn’t likely that was what was happening, along with everything else.

This past Thursday, Garry was experiencing some chest pain at rest, and so an echocardiogram was done. The results show that he has likely had a cardiac event, a heart attack, that has left some residual damage to the heart muscle sometime during the past two weeks. 
Further testing, a MIBI, an angiogram and possible stents will occur once the more critical issue of the neutropenia is dealt with. Apparently, this is not urgent, but will need to be attended to in the future.

Garry’s white cell counts are still critically low and are being treated with dexamethasone, a steroid drug given for four days, at which point, it will be reassessed Tuesday to see if it has been effective. They are treating his condition as aplastic anemia.

Steroids are also used to treat Crohn’s disease and fortunately Garry is experiencing some healing and relief from his PITA.
Pain control, is at times, still an issue.
Grastofil plus anticoagulant injections are still being given daily. All this and oral antibiotics given prophylactically.

Garry has been give Lasix to deal with edema that lead to a weight gain from 195 lbs up to 216 lbs. Today he weighed 208.9 lbs so it’s definitely trending in the right direction.

I am happy to report that Garry looks well.
In fact, the charge nurse indicated that when they look at him, they wonder why he is even there and especially in isolation.
However, when they look at his blood results they know exactly why he needs to be in hospital.

She said that his excellent fitness level has been a major benefit in how he is able to function so well in spite of so many critical health challenges.

I spent the morning with Garry, enjoying coffee and great conversation along with watching our church service online.
It was so good to see that his smile has also reached his eyes.

Garry very much enjoyed his visits with his sister Gail as did I, and we are so thankful that she made the trip from Victoria.

Garry is my hero, as he continues each day being upbeat, and optimistic. 
Together, we face each challenge together, knowing our God knows us, He loves us, and He is with us and that He is our Healer.
We are blessed!

Thank you to all for continuing to support us, encourage us, and pray for us.

With love and thankfulness,
Shirley and Garry