Elephants and Tea - March 2022 - 38

Finding Peace in the Divine DEAR JACK FOUNDATION
though I was told they were better than PCL. I kept wondering, was
Madeline right? Was he going to beat this? Maybe He heard me?
Maybe it was a God thing?
We were moved to a different hospital for more specialized
in-patient care the following morning. Karol was assigned to a
doctor in an Oncology Clinic, but a different doctor, Dr. Matous,
was on rounds that day. Not only did Dr. Matous know that Karol
is pronounced " Karl, " he also knew Karol was named after the late
Pope John Paul II, and we connected with him right away over our
shared faith. He had an amazing bedside manner and yet was still
blatantly honest with us. He advised us, " You can walk out those
doors, but you won't survive. " It became abundantly clear that the
move to that cancer center was the right choice. It was a God thing.
When Karol was admitted to the ICU, the cancerous blasts in his
bone marrow were at 87%; he was filled with almost nothing but
cancer. After the first round of intense chemotherapy, the blasts
came down to 12% cancerous. The doctors told us they wanted it
to be under 10% before even discussing a bone
marrow transplant. Karol's ANC (Absolute Neutrophil
Count - the number of white blood cells
in a sample, these cells help fight infection) sat at
zero for days, but the Saturday before Easter, they
rose to 40. Typically, the count doubles every 24
hours but that night jumped to 1235. At 5 a.m.
on Easter Sunday, we had our own Easter Miracle
- Karol was able to see our children for the
first time since before he entered the hospital. It
was such a blessing for him to see his kids after
almost a month apart; they were the biggest reason he was fighting
so hard against this awful disease. It was a God thing.
During two separate hospital stays, we met two incredible people.
of course, connections with others who had been in the trenches
like we had. It was a different kind of support than we had received
from family and friends. There is just a different connection you
have with people when you can get past the " fluff " and quickly
connect with the nitty-gritty. It was incredible. It was a God thing.
We are different people than we were before cancer. We trust God
more. We believe in the unexplainable. We give more grace and
more forgiveness. We live in the moment more. We are thankful
for what we have because we know how easily it could have been
taken away. Almost six years out, cancer feels like a bump in the
road. A rather large bump that scratches the hell out of the underside
of your car, and you might have to have some repair work
done, or one where you get high centered for a while, but a bump,
nonetheless. I'm not sure what the future has in store for us, and
I'm not sure when Madeline will come back for Karol and say that
it is finally time, but when she does, I will know that her timing is
His timing. It will be a God thing. l
I'm not sure what the future has in store for us, and I'm
not sure when Madeline will come back for Karol and
say that it is finally time, but when she does, I will know
that her timing is His timing. It will be a God thing.
The first was an AML survivor, six years out. It was as if she was
looking at us from outside the end of this long tunnel, shining a
flashlight towards us so we could see the light. She was a God thing.
The other person we met was Kate from the Dear Jack Foundation.
Kate mentioned Andrew McMahon, and Karol was completely overwhelmed.
As a huge music fan, he had listened to Andrew McMahon's
music since the " Something Corporate " days. He didn't know
about Andrew's own battle with leukemia though, and hadn't heard
of the Dear Jack Foundation, or their mission to provide support to
caregivers since that is often overlooked. Best of all, Kate, Andrew
and Dear Jack Foundation got us in touch with other young adult
cancer patients and caregivers. We were starting to see the " why "
of our cancer journey - the people. It was a God thing.
Karol received his new bone marrow on June 24, 2016. The chaplain
from the hospital came in to bless the cells. I kept having flashbacks
to when Karol woke up from his induced coma - " I saw Madeline...
She said it wasn't time yet. " Karol sailed through transplant; he was
out of the hospital in record time, had few long term side effects
from the fully ablative chemotherapy, and was back to work within
a year of his diagnosis. Without Madeline's words, I would not have
felt the peace that surrounded me. It was a God thing.
A year after Karol's transplant, we drove to California for a retreat
with five other couples who had gone through cancer treatment
together, and Andrew McMahon. It was incredible - yoga, meditation,
massages, hikes in the hills and on the beach, Tai Chi, and,
38
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Elephants and Tea - March 2022

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