Anniversary of Greater Life

Today we remember that one year ago, Dad moved to a greater life in Christ. I still remember the moment when I saw him take his last breath and very peacefully it was over. No more sorrow or pain for him, but for those of us who remain, there has been quite the opposite. We have been recounting the last year as the fastest and yet the slowest year. Each week, the pain remains. It feels as if the hurt should become lighter as time goes on, but the reality is that as time goes on, I miss him more. I miss him calling, just to see what I am doing. I miss talking to him about the latest project I am working on. I miss his constant reminder that life is short, so don't worry about everything being perfect. I miss the fact that he could never meet Juliana. She will never know his laugh or the love he had for her before she was born. She will never know that she could have him wrapped around her finger. This is the hurt that remains.

There was a time before Dad got leukemia that I was concerned about his walk with God. Little did I know that the Lord would take Dad through an intense boot-camp in his trial. Dad left us with a legacy that God is Sovereign. I remember talking to him on the phone and him saying that he was not worried about his illness or his future because he believed that God's plan was best. Many tireless nights Dad spent in the Word because his medication would not allow him sleep. It was through that time that God showed him the greatness of his salvation and perfect rest we have in Christ.

Today I pray:
Thank you Lord for giving me a father who was not perfect, but always taught me love, responsibility, leadership, hard work, and that the world doesn't owe me anything. Thank you that he not only knew you as Savior, but now he knows You in your presence. Thank you for the strength and faith you have given my family to persevere in this trial. Your grace is sufficient and my heart will chose to say, "Lord blessed be your name!"

Funeral Service

Sorry for the delay, but we had a few hangups making the funeral plans sooner. The funeral will be Wednesday, June 27 at 11am at Red Rocks Baptist Church. In lieu of flowers we are suggesting donations to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Pray for the funeral as I will be bringing the message.

He is Home!

Praise God that today, Saturday June 23 at 1:35pm, Dad entered the presence of the Lord. Melody, Mom, and I arrived at the hospital around 1:15 and dad went shortly after. His death was very peaceful as he took his last breath. Our family is amazed about the amount of peace and comfort that God has given us through this process.

Almost Home

Friday had to be the longest day of my life. We went to the hospital in the morning to see dad. They took him to get another CT and then we had a meeting with his three doctors. In the meeting, the doctors told us that the swelling in dad's head had become worst. What was different from Wed was instead of a 20% chance of meaningful life, now he had a 0% chance. With tears, his doctor said that she unfortunately could keep him alive for years, but if it was her father, she would let him go. We already knew what our decision was going to be, so we called all the family in to say goodbye and around 7pm, Dr Aronson removed the respirator. We were surrounded by so much family and friends, but the comfort that came from dad's relationship with God gave us such peace.

We stayed at the hospital until midnight, but dad was still breathing away. This morning when I called the nurse, she said that his vitals were all the same. Dad has a strong heart, so we don't know how long it will take for him to go. Dr Aronson called and asked if it was okay to move him to the cancer ICU, because the nurses there knew and loved dad and wanted to take care of him one last time. We will be at the hospital again today and then begin to make arrangements.

Big Day

Thursday seemed to be a day of real evaluation. Dad's condition has not been any better and we are now coming upon one week. The doctors notified us that they would like to take another CT scan on Friday morning and then meet with us between 12 and 1pm. Our suspicion is that if there has not been any change in the CT, they are going to want us to make a decision to pull him off of support. Generally, three doctors don't call a conference unless there is a major decision they want the family to make. My sister, mom, Melody, and I discussed the possible outcomes of today and are willing to do whatever is best for dad. If there is no chance for meaningful life, we would rather let him go. Last night, we prayed for miracle today in his CT.

Continue to pray for that miracle! Pray for us as we meet with the doctors today. Pray that we would have the strength to still give God thanks and praise, no matter the outcome of today.

I found my dad's bible open to where he had been reading. It seems like he was reading the Psalms. They seem pretty highlighted, but where he stopped was Psalm 23. Like dad, let us let the Psalm 23:6 be our comfort today,
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my like and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Friends Who Know

Wednesday was a good day, in that the doctors ordered my dad to be slowly taken off the respirator. He did well initiating and taking breaths on his own. The CT showed that the swelling in his brain went down a little, but there is still significant swelling. The swelling is not uncommon, considering the surgery and the slow healing nature of the brain.

It was also great to have my mom's friend Gail come from Pueblo. She is a nurse in a trauma hospital and deals primarily with patients in my dad's condition. She not only helped us to understand the condition better, but also is pro-actively working towards getting a second opinon with another brain surgeon.

Today, they are going to begin to remove some of the sedation from dad. The doctor yesterday is only giving him a 20% chance of recovering to a functional life. He is keenly aware of both our and dad's wishes not to be a vegetable. In the walk of faith, percentages mean nothing to us, but we will continue to trust the Lord's sovereign will in the process of life. Dad is a strong man, but he also serves an even stronger God!

Specific Prayer

Tuesday was a quiet day. Melody flew in around 10am and we spent the rest of the day at the hospital. It has been great when different friends and family have come, we try to take time to pray around dad. Something that God is teaching me through this is not to pray what I think God would want, but pray specifically what I desire in God's will. With dad's condition still being unknown, it seems like I have been praying for several scenarios to happen, but the scenarios are not ever specifically what I want, but how I think God would want things to go.
Yesterday, I really began to start praying specifically for things that need to happen in his body. These are the things I really want to see change. We need to see the swelling in his brain go down. We need him to start to respond on his right side. We need to be able to bring him off the sedation. We need him to wake up and function with 100% of his brain.
Thank you for your prayers and emails. God's glory will prevail and we intend to give him thanks in all outcomes!

The Broken Record

I almost fell like a broken record that keeps repeating itself. Monday, it took nearly all day for the doctors to do the CT and then get back to us. Finally, around 5pm the doctor came in and said that dad's brain was still swollen and he wanted to keep him sedated for another 48 hours. So now we will wait until Wed when they will do another CT.
Pray for the Lord to sustain our morale. It is difficult to sit at the hospital all day with a patient who is unconscious. It is also very difficult to talk to the brain surgeon. He never speaks of the possible positives, but always gives the worst case scenario. Today, Melody is also traveling here!

Hopefully a day of answers!

Today they will be doing a CT scan on dad. This will determine whether there is any more bleeding in his brain. It will also determine if the swelling has gone down. They are also expecting to take him off of the sedation. After removing the sedation, he could either come right out of the comma or it could take a few days, depending on how much trauma there was to his head.
My mom said this morning that she almost doesn't want to go to the hospital, just because we can possibly get some new information today as to whether there is little, much, or no brain damage. God knows and we will continue to lean on Him in faith and prayer. I will keep you all updated as we find out. Thanks for the prayers.

Having Faith in a Full Recovery

Saturday was a better day at the hospital. We were finally able to understand more about what happened to dad. When he fell on Friday, he hit his head. The impact of the fall on his head would have simply given you or I a headache and a knot on our head, but because of his leukemia, dad's platelets were low and the impact caused bleeding in his head. The surgery that they did was to remove part of his skull to relieve the pressure of the swelling and bleeding. They also removed a blood clot that had formed from the bleeding. Neurologically they are unable to do many test to determine brain damage, until Monday when they bring him off of the sedation. They have been checking his pupils, which have been responding well. So far there have not been any negatives that would indicate a full recovery isn't possible.

When the first doctor saw my dad, he told my mom that this was very serious and to call the family. We have had great support here from family and friends. All of my dad's brothers and sisters have been here. Continue to pray for my dad and specifically for my mom that she will have the confidence that we made the right decision to operate. Monday will be the big day when they do another CAT scan and take him off the sedation. Our prayer is that the bleeding has stopped and that he comes right out of the comma and his brain is working well.

Pray for my dad

Friday I flew from KY to CO because my dad fell down the stairs at home. His cancer treatment has made him pretty weak. The impact of the fall caused bleeding in his brain. The doctors removed part of his skull to relieve pressure from the swelling. He is in stable condition in an induced comma. Pray with us that the Lord would bring him about to a full recovery or simply take him home to heaven. The chances of parallelizes are high, but we know he would rather be with Jesus than live in a vessel that doesn't work. He has verbally told us that he is ready to go whenever the Lord takes him. The past few months he has been sharing the awesome work of Christ in his life to friends, family, and strangers. Pray that we made the right decision to go forward with the surgery to try to save him. Today they will do more tests, but really they are trying to keep him sedated until Monday to allow his body to heal.

Dad and Baby

Thank you for praying for my dad. He is encouraged and strengthened, knowing you all have been praying. His stem cell transplant has gone well so far. It statistically takes 7-10 days for the treatment to begin to work, so pray that his body would accept the new stem cells.
Things here have been going well, as we are now finally able to talk about the baby. Melody has had a cold for the past few weeks, but other than that, her morning sickness is almost gone. Now maybe this is debatable, but we have been getting the pressure from our friends to find out the sex of the baby. The answer is still “no.” If you have any comments, feel free to post.

Update on Dad

Dad will finish his last (4/4) round of chemo this week. For the most part he hasn't felt too sick, just really drained. He then has a six week break to regain his strength before the bone-marrow transplant. When he has the transplant, the doctor's estimate he will be in the hospital for a month. We are hoping that he will be back and mobile by May so that he and Mom can come to VABeach for my and Mel's graduation. Please continue to pray. His spirts have been great because of the knowledge that God's people are interceding before the throne of grace for him.

Going Home

Today my dad is going home from the hospital after 23 days. After finishing his first round of chemo, he is doing well and anticipating the same success with the second and third round. Please continue to pray for him.

Yesterday, it was refreshing to hear him talk about the opportunities that he has had to share Christ with friends and family. We pray that these seeds planted would grow and that someones world would be rocked because of another man's trial. We have taken great faith in the idea that God will receive glory through our families hardship.

Denver

Last Tuesday, Melody and I drove to Georgia, so that Melody could stay with her parents while I was in Colorado. On Wed I flew out of Atlanta to Denver, only to surprise my dad. He has been telling me not to come, but when I got here, I could tell that he was excited that I was here.
The chemo has gone well so far. He has only been sick three times in eleven days. Most of the time it was after breakfast, which I reassured him that even I feel nocuous after breakfast. This week will conclude his first round of chemo. The chemo has caused a few side effects such as diabetes as well as his vision is blurred. More than getting sick, I think that the blurred vision has been the worst thing for him. He is frustrated that he can’t read his Bible. This weekend we were watching football, and he had to keep asking what the score was, or what the time was, and so on.
My dad’s spirits have been good. He recognizes that this is a trial from God and therefore it is only God who will get him through this. Whoever calls the hospital, my dad simply asks for prayer. He is confident that this is going to be a testimony of God’s power as a witness to his unsaved family.
Pray for continued health as he finishes this round of chemo. Pray for his blood counts to quickly go back up so that he can come home. Pray for his continued reliance on God. I take great comfort in the fact that God is sovereign and that He does whatever He wants. God’s sovereignty does not keep me from prayer, but pushes me to have faith in the One who knows my prayers even before they are spoken.

pray for my dad

This week our family found out that my dad has acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which is a fast-growing cancer of the white blood cells. The doctors have preped the family and told us he will probably be in the hospital for two to three months. He started chemotherapy today and will continue this for ten days. After the ten days, they reaccess the progress and determine if they need to do another round of chemo. Pray for encouragement to his spirits as he faces a very unknown road. He knows the Lord and has faith that God is sovereign.

This picture of my mom and dad was taken just last week. Melody and I went apple picking with them. This was the extent of his activities while he was here, since he felt so sick. I will be traveling to Denver on Wednesday and will be there a week. His name is Larry Mondragon and if you would like to send him a card, just email me and I will send you the address.