e@cyclosporin: Days 42-48 -- Glimpse of Hope

As much as I wanted to blog more frequently with the latest updates, I am struggling to find a chunk of time to do that during the week days.  Continuing on from last posting, Ensay's blood counts have held its levels and just last Thursday the doctor excitedly notified us that his platelet counts have doubled to 21,000.  (Please keep in mind that normal range is 150,000 through 400,000 so we still have some ways to catch up.)  Needless to say, we were very pleased to hear that good news and wanted to convey the same excitement to you all because your prayers are being answered by our Healer.  I continue to PRAY that Ensay's bone marrow factory will produce more and more healthy blood cells.  His red blood cells are still in the low range but the doctor would like to hold off the transfusion to allow his body to produce extra red blood cells by attempting to normalize his system.  I will update you after Tuesday's blood count.

All in all, Ensay has been doing well and I can see that this news has boosted his spirit up even higher.  It's truly a time of praise for the Kimfamily.org and this day of June 21st, 2012 has been a memorable day for us.

It so happens, on that afternoon we had a consultation appointment with the bone marrow transplant group as a preparation for potentially going down that path in the future.  Even after hearing the good news from the doctor in the morning we still attended this appointment but when I heard Ensay explaining to the nurse that so far the ATG treatment he is on seems to be working, it brought sweet sense of peace and joy (for Young Joo as well).

Another significant event for the day was that our second mother duck who visited our front courtyard hatched her ducklings.  I did not see them like I did last time but I did hear the little creatures chirping when I left for work in the morning.  We were privileged to have provided the fertile nest twice this year and there is a mysterious joy of witnessing new lives come into this world according to God's design.

From this week's reading on 2 Kings 8:6 (NIV) -- The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now." -- I was very encouraged by the message of when we follow God's instructions, He will be responsible for restoring all the "losses" we may face.  In this passage the Shunammite woman whose son Elisha had restored to life were instructed to exile to the land of Philistines to weather the famine in her land.  And when she returned, a string of events God orchestrated allowed the king to grant her the full restoration of all she had owned before.  This woman according to 2 Kings 4:8 possessed a lot of wealth and yet she followed the instruction of Elisha surrendering her possessions valuing her and her family's lives more.

Ensay was very involved in sports (water polo), and had wealth of strength and energy.  This passage almost conveys the fact that he is in exile away from the famine; and when he returns, God will restore everything he had before.  I PRAY that our family will be keen to hear God's instructions and follow them closely so that just like this woman, we also will experience God's wondrous restoration in Ensay's body and his life.