I have struggled this week with changing pain medications. Last week the pain management folk decided to switch me from Oxycontin to an analgesic patch. But for a while they want to use both the Oxycontin and the patch in order to wean me away from the Oxycontin. That’s been harder than I imagined. In fact, I think I have been over-medicated during this process. The result has been shortness of breath, feelings of faintness and weakness, and difficulty sleeping. Apparently my body has experienced some degree of addiction and that’s what we’re currently addressing. The challenge is to wean me off a portion of the medication without experiencing a great increase in pain.
The surgical procedure from last week (insertion of stent to clear the blockage of the common duct) seems to be working well. The doctor indicated, after the fact, that had this not worked, we would have been in real trouble. Thanks for your prayers during this critical time.
We met with the oncologist on Wednesday to inform him that we were not going to try other treatments. He could not have been kinder. He and I have bonded from day one and he is greatly distressed that his treatment (chemotherapy) has not been effective. He mentioned a couple of other options, none of which offer any real hope, but then quickly agreed that our decision to withhold further treatment was probably a wise decision. He assured me that if any radical new and promising treatment comes across his desk, he will get in touch with me.
We talked with Hospice about assuming responsibility for our care from here on out. I have been involved with the Hospice movement for two decades, having served on the Board in Jacksonville. I am a strong proponent of their ministry. The fly in the ointment, once again, involves insurance. They have denied my request to use Hospice Atlanta and instead want me to use a for-profit provider that they recommend. That’s not what we want to do, so we have appealed.
Our daughter, Stephanie, and son-in-law, Henry, are driving up from Jacksonville today and will be with us for the weekend. I can’t tell you how excited I am!
And our son, Charley, has completed his Emory University Singers concert tour in Italy and he is now in Kenya, working for ten days in an orphanage. He’s having a great experience teaching music there, and we look forward to having him home in a week!
16 comments:
Hi Jack & Anita,
Please know that David & I think about you and pray for both of you many times a day!
We really appreciate your updates and find you forever ministering to us as we struggle to figure out how we can be a blessing to you both!
Thanks for the update about your family, I've been thinking about Charley and am so glad he's having some wonderful opportunities! I can't wait to hear about his experiences!
All of our Love, David W & Carole B
Jack & Anita:
Know that you remain in my prayers daily. Thanks for sharing your journey with us.
Joe McDade
Dear Jack & Anita,
I know that today was a very special day for both of you! Bless you.
I am so glad to know that Stephanie & Henry are there and that Charley is traveling and happy.
Prayers are being said as I write to you. Thank you so much for your updates. Sometimes I feel like I can see your face as I read and it brings me comfort.
God bless you each and every minute.
Love,
Sheryl
Jack:
Please know that I've been following this blog and keeping up with you as time permits. Know also that I, along with my associates at B. G. E. A., have been praying for you.
I just returned from a trip to Charlotte for the dedication of Dr. Graham's Library, and I'm about to leave for Binghamton, NY for one of Franklin's Festivals there next weekend.
Hospice Atlanta is a wonderful organization. My dad was under their care in 2002, and I have a high school classmate that is at their facility now.
I'm going to keep praying for God's miraculous healing hand to work a miracle with your health. I'll continue to pray for you daily.
Prayerful Thoughts & Blessings,
Stan Lambert
As I read your message this morning, "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go" came to my mind. Thought I'd quote the first verse, but as I read the following verses, I knew they applied, too. You have personified this prayer. I pray those of us who love you all will follow in your footsteps. You have poured out love everywhere. You have let His Light shine through you. You have expressed the joy. You have taken up the Cross.
Jack and Anita, Stephanie, Charley, and Henry, How we love you. You know everyone would have taken this pain from you had it been possible. We pray God will answer our prayers about hospice for you.
Ann
Hi dear frineds-
We were thinking of you on your anniversary yesterday and hope you got some special time together. We are also overwhelmed with love, respect and prayers for peace for you both as you have been faced with these difficult decisions this week.
We love you and are grateful for your friendship-
Amy and John
Dear Jack,
I am so thankful for what you mean to me and so many, many other people. I have been praying for you and Anita and your whole family. I know these are not easy days, but you are such an inspiration with your positive attitude! We all need to take a lesson from you. It's too easy for us to complain--and often about things that really aren't that important in the whole scheme of things.
Thanks for helping to keep us on the right track!
Love,
Laraine
Continuing to pray with you, Jack...
May your weekend be filled with the love of your family.
Thank you thank you thank you for this ministry of communication.
-Stretch
You were in our thoughts on your wedding anniversary yesterday -- and we prayed that you would share many, many happy memories of those years together.
Our hearts literally ache realizing all the things that are happening to you and the struggles you face each day. We hope you know how much you have meant to so many people through the years -- and to us. We, too, have treasued memories of the years we have known you -- from that snowy day in Newnan that Ann mentioned to recent months when we'd meet you in Atlanta for a meal on our way to or from visits to Greg in Nashville. And LOTS of meaningful and fun times in between. Both of you are an inspiration to people throughout the world and the earthly example in which you reflect Christ's love to all.
Our love and prayers to all of you: Jack, Anita, Stephanie & Henry, and Charley.
Jack and Anita:
When you visited with us in Savannah 4 years ago you were celebrating your 40th wedding anniversary. We talked about the fact the you had married on June 1, 1963, and that James and his first wife had married on June 2, 1963. SOOO...yesterday must have been your 44th!. Happy Anniversary from us. We love you both and continue to hold you in our prayers.
Life goes well for us. I will leave for a mission trip to Cuba on June 5. This will be the 17th mission trip for our church to Cuba.
James and Carolyn Hale Cubbedge
Jack, I just read Don's message and that reminded me of the many times he and I tried to suprise you in different locatons and how we usually succeeded. Let me mention some. Griffin, Ga at a revival you had. Don, Carole's dad, Gordon Cook and I were down front when you walked on the platform. The look on you face was worth a million dollars. The time we saw you off from the Jax airport to Chicago for shoulder surgery. And then Don and I caught a flight that arrived before you and Anita did and we were there to greet you. That look was a two million dollar one. But the three million dollar one was when you saw the picture we made of you and the HAB group after dinner in Pensacola after the FBC meeting and we were all standing in front of a saloon which you did not realize. Of course the "sold" signs and police tape around your house were of equal fun. In addition to these fun things, Carole and I have truly been blessed by your friendship and the many sermons from the pulpit of HABC and in times of joy and sorrow that we all have experienced. We love you and your entire family and were glad to spend some time with several of them at Stephanie's wedding. Thanks again for the dinner at Mary Mac's.
Love, Carole and Me.
Being married to your soul mate is definitely a gift from God. Congratulations on your 44th wedding anniversary! Your love for each other nurtures others also as we see your care of each other. It reminds us that long marriages don't just happen. They require care. Reading the word “Hospice” after your loving tribute to Anita reminds us just how painful this journey is and how little we can help although we wish we could. We continue to pray for you daily—for good news amidst the bad, for relief from pain, for guidance in the hard decisions, for healing and hope and courage and strength and peace, and for God to intervene when we cannot. Alex has been praying for you daily. He usually prays, “Make Uncle Jack okay and Aunt Anita okay and make Uncle Jack very, very okay. Make Uncle Jack have a good day.” He always prays for the two of you by name, but many days he also prays for God to make everyone in the world okay and make them all have a good day. I’m struck by the fact that he prays big. He prays for what we all want-—Uncle Jack and Aunt Anita to be okay and to have a good day.
Love, Cindy, Eddy, Kaela, and Alex
How my hearts breaks for you these days!! I am now working at Beach United Methodist Church as Traditional Music Director, and many there are praying for you even though they do not know you. They have heard of you through me and the deep impact you have had on my life and ministry. Much of who I am as a person and minister I owe to your leadership and example.
Even in these days of pain and agony, you continue to pour out your soul and teach me from a distance. What a blessing you are!!!
May God richly bless you in these days, and know of my love and prayers for you!!!
Hugh Patterson
Dr. Snell, Mrs. Snell, Stephanie and Charley,
God Bless you all! Thanks for all of the meaning you give my life.
I love you,
Julie (Seale) Brown
Jack & Anita,
Trying my first ever at posting on an internet site. (This dratted vision lost is no help).Just more than a year ago you two were returning from China and I was in the hospital with open heart surgery. I couldn't introduce you at our Lenbrook Vesper service at which Anita sang and you spoke on the day of your return. The residents loved and appreciated you both. Thank you for your thoughts on parents,family, and fatherhood. Your insight is a blessing. I'm looking at a drawing done by the son we lost a few years ago. He gave it to me on a father's day. A little boy with a reversed baseball cap is looking up at a man so tall his upper body is out of the picture. The inscription; "It's nice to know a person you can alsays look up to..." Thanks for refreshing the meaningful memory of that and thank God for the bond you and your children have. Love and prayers from Lavelle and Marie at Lenbrook in Buckhead.
Jack & Anita,
Your CBF of Arkansas family continues to remember you in our prayers. We thank you for coming to AR last November to speak at our Annual Fall Luncheon.
You are so brave to share your journey with us. Your relationship with God, your faith in Jesus, and your words about your faith journey are so inspiring.
I was reading a story about Bill Mahrer's new series critiquing faith on the ethicsdaily.com website today. In an interview with Larry King he was saying that no one knows what heaven is like. I have to agree with him; but we "know" by faith, not proof.
Like you, as a pastor I have thought about and talked about heaven a lot. I have found that the Bible has 4 clear pictures about what heaven is like.
It is like a magnificient mansion (in my Father's house there are many rooms). And we know there is no place like home.
It is like a beautiful garden (when Jesus told the thief on the cross, "today you will be with me in paradise"; the word paradise was the word for a Persian kings garden).
It is like an exciting city (the holy city, the new Jerusalem) and for those of us who live in the city it is an exciting place.
It is God's family reunion (whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life).
So we pray that you will have more meaningful days on this side of heaven, that God will continue to give you joy each day, that you will have times with family, colleagues and friends that are rich beyond words.
Our love & prayers,
Ray Higgins
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