Bald is beautiful!

We are trying to find the small improvements or the positive things that happen throughout the day. Sometimes it is that somebody came to visit and other times it might be that we moved his bed around the room so the positive air that is flowing freely won’t hit him in the face and dry out his nose and throat.

I have to tell you about another positive moment for me and maybe not so much for Van. One morning I looked on his pillow and saw some hair strands so I pinched his ¼ inch hair (the re-growth from last chemo) and it pulled right out of his head. I got so excited (you have to or you would go crazy) that I tried a new technique. Instead of using duck tape to pull out the hair, I heard you could use a lint roller.

Before, During & After Pictures

So I rolled the roller over his head ten times but he still had a few of those gray hairs that wouldn’t let go so I shaved his head. It’s better that then getting hair all over your pillow. Then I got an idea and said, “I wonder if your eyebrows will come out?” Sure enough when I rolled the lint roller over them many eyebrows came out. He made me stop because he said he wanted some hair left. They will just come out slowly. That was an exciting day.

Van is hanging on and believing in the words of Alma where he said, “Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame …” (Alma 11: 44)

Life is pretty sad right now. The Doctor’s are hoping that this will be his lowest low. He’s super weak, throws up a lot, fevers ever night, we think he has sleep apnea but will have to wait on that until later, is on lots of oxygen, can’t eat, can’t sleep very well, and has a central line infection, etc. They said by day 25 we should start to see improvement. We are on day 9 today.

He’s had two blessings in the last week and we have felt the spirit really strong. In fact, one night I prayed really hard to know what to do for my husband and within an hour the nurse and I (with the spirits help) figured out three things we could do for him which helped a lot and he was finally able to rest.