Day 19 A letter from Peggy

My heartfelt thanks to all of you who have made this trip easy for me. As you know, I'm new to this facebook thing, and would not be on it now except for my "sister", Rhita. Thank you Genie for taking care of our mother while we are away. I arrived late Monday evening and found Mary and John waiting at the IBC Hospita...l gate. Mary looked so pretty and rested even though it was late. I was completely astounded at Johnny's appearance. His coloring was great, the tumors were almost completely gone, and the edema in his arm and hand were at least 2/3rds less than we witnessed on December 26th. We visited briefly and went to our respective places for the evening. Tuesday morning we met Dr. Vazquez, went to breakfast, and then to the veranda for a lovely sunshiny day. I moved to a refurbished apartment and we met again for lunch. While having lunch, a wonderful Amish family, (John, Mary and Ruth) made the comment they were going to Tijuana Beach. John immediately perked up and asked if we could join them. Yes, of course, they would be happy for us to go and share the fare for the van from IBC. We all laughed, and John got permission from the nurses to run away. We had a glorious time, picking up pebbles for our grandchildren, taking pictures, and enjoying the fresh air. Mary took off her shoes and waded in the surf - we loved watching her get lost in the salt sea air. John felt as if we had escaped and all was well, although he began to tire as we walked back to the van. Our driver had told us he would pick us up in one hour. As you know from Mary's blog, when we returned from the beach, John was quarantined due to a low white cell count. That evening Dr. Vazquez said, "he was a very sick man when he came here. He has improved immeasurably, but he is not out of the woods yet." He may not be out of the woods, but he is closer to the meadow than you can imagine. Since the quarantine, he has had a rough time. However, due to God's Love and Grace and your prayers, he has survived these last days and nights with very little complaint. Dr. Gunter said today, "he is one strong man, we simply cannot believe his strength." Today Dr. Alberto, Internist, told us that they will discontinue the chemo until his mouth heals from chemo, all cultures taken to determine any infection are back, and he regains his strength. They have changed his antibiotics, and we saw a marked change in his cough tonight. He still has very little appetite. Mary is precious and tries to encourage him to eat his meals. Children do not worry about your mother. Mary is holding up beautifully, but she and John miss you and family, their friends, and home immensely. When we have our meals in the dining room, she is asked to give a full "John" report to the other patients who just adore your mom and dad. They are waiting to hear their songs of joy again. I know this is long, but you won't hear from me often. Mary's computer is on the fritz and won't be up and running until next week. In the meantime, one of my jobs is to read to Johnny. I leave you with one of his favorite readings from "Mother Teresa" - a book a sweet friend gave me for Christmas. "Let us not be afraid to be humble, small, helpless to prove our love for God. The cup of water you give the sick, the way you lift a dying man, the way you feed a baby, the way you teach a dull child, the way you give medicine to a sufferer of leprosy, the joy with which you smile at your own at home - all this is God's love in the world today." Love and prayers, Peggy 

Prayer needs: For him to be able to eat (the sores in mouth are very painful) 

For rest, he is having a hard time sleeping!