“Yea, though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; thy rod and thy staff comfort me…”
The familiar words of the 23rd psalm echo in my head. Transplant Day +3 (what an ordeal for Sabine!)
Our close friends often remark that Sabine and I are “joined at the hip.” When you go through something like this with your beloved, and you are truly “joined at the hip,” it seems that the pain of the beloved becomes your pain. Maybe that’s what the Christian theology of the Cross really means – when one is connected to another, their suffering is your suffering.
Sabine’s sister, Barbara, has been a Godsend (is she really an angel?). She monitors the entrance to Sabine’s room, makes sure the staff is hand-washing, checks lab work, and knows the name of every healthcare worker in the transplant unit! (I don’t doubt that she will soon know the names of the folks who work on the floors above and below Sabine’s!)
Each day for Sabine is a challenge: nausea, loose bowels, swollen mouth and throat as her “numbers” drop each day and the stem cells struggle to reproduce. We are hoping that some recovery will be evident beginning T+5.
In the meantime, keep her in both your thoughts and prayers… We are still in Eastertide – and new life is all around us! Alleluia!
In the hospital room.
Sabine still does everything she can to try and get outside every day for exercise. Here she is at one of the beautiful gardens on the UW campus.
Dr Walter Longo, her attending physician. His healing touch and words have been so important to us along this journey.
Here's a great picture of Sabine with her sister, Barbara (endearingly called, "Nurse Ratchett") on the shore of Lake Mendota, a short walk from UW Hospital.
(Sabine suggested to me this morning that maybe we could say we were going on a walk and then drive to our cottage where she could be in her own bed and get some sleep! Would this be "patient-knapping?")
