Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Thank-you for your prayers......some GOOD news :)

Dear Friends & Family,

I want to thank you from my heart and with deep appreciation for the prayer support from my church family. This has been a very difficult road that I have travelled during the past several months and it seems like the only news that I have received from the medical community has been discouraging and negative in regard to my health situation. I wanted to share with you some good news that I heard from the cardiologist today.

Yesterday I went to the W. Michigan Heart Center and the electrical cardiologist put a monitor on my defibrillator and it showed that my heart was beating normally most of the time and that I had not experienced any severe irregular heart beats during the past several weeks. My defibrillator was not close to going off again during this time even though mentally I thought there were times that it was going to shock me.. They took a blood test and reported to me today with enthusiasm that I no longer am experiencing congestive heart faiilure and feel confident that my heart is gaining strength and that the treatment is working. That was good news and means that for the first time in several months that things are improving. Because of the recent blood clots I have been completely sedentary for ten days. Now I can start doing some limited exercise to regain my strength.

I still have many of the same symptoms of fatigue, dizziness, heavy breathing, etc. but these are partially due to the treatment (prednisone and chemo) and all the other drugs that they have me on at this time. I wanted to share this good news and answer to prayer because it shows that my heart is gaining strength and that progress is being made. Thank you again for your prayer support and the many ways that you have shown your love and concern.

I am open to visitors but if you could call ahead and keep it short that would be helpful for the healing process. It has been difficult for me to not only deal with the disease but to be isolated from people who I love. As you know I am energized by people and love being with people but due to my health conditions it has been best to let my body heal.

Joyfully In Christ,
Dan

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