6/13/2010 Praises

Well, after talking to some friends last night at church, I realized that many of you are not familiar with what happened to my dad over the last couple weeks... so I'm going to give a quick replay.

Fri, Jun 4 my dad and my brother left Denver to begin the Hot Rod Power Tour which started in Newton Iowa on Sat, Jun 5th in his 442 convertable that has no air conditioning. Dad was feeling good, and very excited, and my brother was very aware of his role throughout this journey...to help my dad enjoy himself as much as possible, as well as make sure my dad stayed as healthy as possible.

The Power Tour travels through many different states with car show stops along the way. On Tues, Jun 8, they got to Bowling Green, KY, and my brother convinced my dad to go to the hospital with a slight fear my dad had heat exhaustion. At the hospital, they gave my dad a couple of IV's of fluid and reminded him to keep drinking.

The night of Wed, Jun 9 my mom, dad, and brother decided it was best for my dad to head home to Denver via plane. He wasn't doing much better than before the hospital visit, and wasn't able to hold much food down, therefore not getting any nutrition. So he flew back to Denver on Thurs, Jun 10, and my brother continued with the car on the Power Tour. The ending point of the tour was New Orleans, and they were pretty close, so he figured he'd just finish it up.

When my dad returned home, he set up a dr's apt for that Friday. My mom said they took out fluid from my dad's stomach, and increased his medications a bit to help him feel better about food and start getting stronger again. When I talked to them earlier today, it seemed like everything was working. My dad had eaten today, and all was good. Tomorrow, they have another dr's apt to decide what is the next step they are going to take... whether it be put him back on the chemo, or take a week or so to get him stronger again, and then reevaluate.

Meanwhile, my brother has had his issues with the car (if you know my brother and his driving history, this shouldn't surprise you!). The plan was for him to caravan back to the Chicago area with another guy and his family that were on the tour as well, then we'd figure out a way to get the car back to Denver. I found out today, that the radiator went out on my dad's old car just outside of Indianapolis. At this point, he is home, and exhausted (I'm sure after driving that old car for so long).

Anyway, as I type this, I can't help by see God's hand on the whole situation. God allowed my dad to go on the tour (if he hadn't gone, he would have been home miserable). God allowed my dad to say yes to going to the hospital (I do not feel he would have done that on his own). God allowed my dad to say it was time to go home (which was huge for him). God protected my dad on his journey home through the airports while he was feeling so aweful. God has protected my brother throughout his journey with the car (he mentioned that there was a fatality on the Power Tour). The first two prayer requests that I had in the last post were completely answered... PRAISE THE LORD!

If you are reading this, then I know that you care about my family. And you have probably lifted up prayers for us as well. I want you to know that we believe in a God that ANSWERS PRAYER! This past week was the perfect example of that, and this God will bring glory to HIS name through this whole battle with cancer.

I changed the background on this blog because I felt it was more appropriate... God allows us to go through storms in our life... and this is a storm in the Campbell family's life. But God also has reasons for the storms, and knows that there is amazing abundance on the other side!

Please continue to pray for my parents as they communicate with the dr's this week, as well as the dr's wisdom about how best to handle my dad's situtation. Your prayers are being heard!