It was an early morning in clinic but happy to say it was a short appointment :)
John is looking much better, all vital signs good and he is even beginning to consistently gain weight.
All counts also look good (red, white and platelets). His T cell level is also good at 374 at last test (normal range is between 400 and 500). Doctor believes this will continue to go up which is very exciting! John having T cells is a miracle and our hope and prayer is that they will continue to multiply to a normal human level. Another t cell level test was done today and we will find results tomorrow.
They have also been measuring John's B cell levels. John has never had these before. The last level in August still showed that he had none. We await to see if this will change.
John was due to come off the anti-rejection drugs today but that was delayed due to a suspected resurgence of Graft Versus Host disease (GVHD); John has a rash on his face. Please pray with us that this is not GVHD as that would complicate things.
Overall the future looks bright and we continue to see progress, albeit slow.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Transparency
Transparency. Openness. Honesty.
Our hearts yearn to live a life defined by these attributes, and yet one thing holds us back. Fear. Fear of judgment--not only from others but from ourselves. Fear of a lack of provision--what if we can’t pay our bills? Fear of the future--what if John gets sick again? And yet the very brokenness that should lead us to God and to our friends is the one thing that leads us away.
Away from expressing our need and into self-sufficiency.
As we prayed last night, going over our budget for the coming year, we knew we were in need and yet every part of us resisted admitting it.
A wave of realization hit us.
We needed to confess. We needed to repent.
Our hearts yearn to live a life defined by these attributes, and yet one thing holds us back. Fear. Fear of judgment--not only from others but from ourselves. Fear of a lack of provision--what if we can’t pay our bills? Fear of the future--what if John gets sick again? And yet the very brokenness that should lead us to God and to our friends is the one thing that leads us away.
Away from expressing our need and into self-sufficiency.
As we prayed last night, going over our budget for the coming year, we knew we were in need and yet every part of us resisted admitting it.
A wave of realization hit us.
We needed to confess. We needed to repent.
So often this year we have been led by fear in our finances. We stockpiled food, buying more than
we needed because we were so afraid we might not have the means to get more. John
spent much of this year too sick to drive, so every time I could get a ride I spent as though another
ride would never come along.
We should have expressed our need. We should have humbled ourselves to ask for help.
We should have trusted God more. He has surely proved faithful to us.
And so we write today to repent openly, confess and ask for your forgiveness. Those of you who
give to us, we ask you to forgive us for not making Godly decisions in our finances. God is changing our
hearts, leading us to a deeper place of trust in Him. Thank you so much for your commitment to us, you
are truly invaluable and we love you.
We also write to swallow our pride and say we need help. Our projected expenditure for the coming
year leaves us with a deficit of $400 a month. This year we have relied heavily upon one-time donations,
which have been a great blessing.
We ask that you would pray about joining our team, if you are not already part of it.
Giving is easy. It can be done by check or online at www.ywamboston.org; there is an option to set up
a monthly direct debit transfer, so it can happen automatically. We also have a Paypal account, if that is easier for you.
If you are in the UK please contact Amanda at electromand.ywam@gmail.com.
Thank you for taking time to read this.
Our promise to you is that we will be more open from now on, about our needs, and about our hearts.
In return we ask you to do the same. As the body of Christ we need each other. In our shared
brokenness can be found true joy in the Lord.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Much love,
John and Amanda Caton
Monday, September 19, 2011
Revival
Our hearts yearn to see revival in Boston.
As we have prayed, worshiped and served in this city to our surprise God has bought a revival in OUR team! As we have prayed to see the spirit of independence, pride and intellectualism broken over Boston God has begun to break those things over our individual lives. There is a new openness within our team, a new surrendering and a deeper level of brokenness.
This is O so good.
How can we meet the broken if we are not also broken? How we can we bring a solution to a problem we do not understand?
We know God is doing a new thing in this city and in our ministry. He has blessed us with a new building, a new location (closer to the city) in a vibrant multicultural area and a new refreshed sense of purpose.
He is breaking us out into new areas we have only dreamed about! We are finally breaking ground in our Campus Ministry and this Fall we begin having meetings at Tufts, BU, MIT, Berklee College of Music and Harvard. Our evangelism is also evolving; spreading now to include internet evangelism. Our new building also enables us to host many more community events!
In the immediate future we face a big task.
Our new building need a lot of TLC; many of our days have been spent cleaning and fixing things; we have come so far and yet have far to go.
On October 19th our performing arts team begin a 4 week 'Encounter' tour; 2 weeks will take them PA, MD, CT, OH and VA and then 2 weeks will be spend performing in the New England area. Amanda will be involved in the New England tour.
It's so exciting here right now I want you ALL to be involved?
If your hearts are moved as you read this please let us know! We love to connect with people, not only to pray for us but so we can pray for you! It's what it's all about.
Pray....
Give....
Connect....
Join us :)
As we have prayed, worshiped and served in this city to our surprise God has bought a revival in OUR team! As we have prayed to see the spirit of independence, pride and intellectualism broken over Boston God has begun to break those things over our individual lives. There is a new openness within our team, a new surrendering and a deeper level of brokenness.
This is O so good.
How can we meet the broken if we are not also broken? How we can we bring a solution to a problem we do not understand?
We know God is doing a new thing in this city and in our ministry. He has blessed us with a new building, a new location (closer to the city) in a vibrant multicultural area and a new refreshed sense of purpose.
He is breaking us out into new areas we have only dreamed about! We are finally breaking ground in our Campus Ministry and this Fall we begin having meetings at Tufts, BU, MIT, Berklee College of Music and Harvard. Our evangelism is also evolving; spreading now to include internet evangelism. Our new building also enables us to host many more community events!
In the immediate future we face a big task.
Our new building need a lot of TLC; many of our days have been spent cleaning and fixing things; we have come so far and yet have far to go.
On October 19th our performing arts team begin a 4 week 'Encounter' tour; 2 weeks will take them PA, MD, CT, OH and VA and then 2 weeks will be spend performing in the New England area. Amanda will be involved in the New England tour.
It's so exciting here right now I want you ALL to be involved?
If your hearts are moved as you read this please let us know! We love to connect with people, not only to pray for us but so we can pray for you! It's what it's all about.
Pray....
Give....
Connect....
Join us :)
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Day 243
He just keeps looking better!
His doctors are all so happy with the progress John is making. He is now completely off steroids and has had no re-occurrence of the GVHD. His platelet, red and white count are now normal and the latest chimerism is showing a slow and steady rise in the graft taking over. Overall Ian's cell now comprise of 78% of John's cells :) and he is beginning to produce most of his immune cells.
At the end of this month John will begin to be tapered off his anti-rejection/immune suppressant drugs ; we hope to see the graft get stronger and stronger!
Although it is early days and too early to say John will have normal functioning immune system after this we can say that all signs, right now, point to the transplant being a complete success.
We walk in hope and in faith. We hold fast not to the words of doctors or the results of tests but the word of God which will accomplish all it has said. God will be faithful to do as He has promised. As I sat and prayed a few days ago I wondered "Is it arrogant or presumptuous of me to say that God will heal John?" Immediately I felt God say "No, it is true wisdom to trust in my words which I have spoken to you".
And so we press on, not in arrogance and not in blind faith but in the words of God whose promises never fail and whose love never leaves.
His doctors are all so happy with the progress John is making. He is now completely off steroids and has had no re-occurrence of the GVHD. His platelet, red and white count are now normal and the latest chimerism is showing a slow and steady rise in the graft taking over. Overall Ian's cell now comprise of 78% of John's cells :) and he is beginning to produce most of his immune cells.
At the end of this month John will begin to be tapered off his anti-rejection/immune suppressant drugs ; we hope to see the graft get stronger and stronger!
Although it is early days and too early to say John will have normal functioning immune system after this we can say that all signs, right now, point to the transplant being a complete success.
We walk in hope and in faith. We hold fast not to the words of doctors or the results of tests but the word of God which will accomplish all it has said. God will be faithful to do as He has promised. As I sat and prayed a few days ago I wondered "Is it arrogant or presumptuous of me to say that God will heal John?" Immediately I felt God say "No, it is true wisdom to trust in my words which I have spoken to you".
And so we press on, not in arrogance and not in blind faith but in the words of God whose promises never fail and whose love never leaves.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Day 210
How wonderful it is to have so little news there is no need to blog!
John has been progressively getting stronger and better without any new infections or setbacks. Today we saw his doctors who was again beaming! He said John was doing "spectacular" and that his counts "could not be better".
John's red, white and platelets all normal human levels.
They drew for the latest chimerism and we will get the results in 4 weeks at our next appointment...yes we get one month off from the hospital! Praise God :)
John has been progressively getting stronger and better without any new infections or setbacks. Today we saw his doctors who was again beaming! He said John was doing "spectacular" and that his counts "could not be better".
John's red, white and platelets all normal human levels.
They drew for the latest chimerism and we will get the results in 4 weeks at our next appointment...yes we get one month off from the hospital! Praise God :)
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Day 196
 |
| Amanda ready to attack the basement! |
John's counts continue to look "amazing" in the words of John's nurse. The only slightly sad part was they had not drawn blood for the Chimerism test yet and won't be till our next visit in 2 weeks! So we have to wait longer for more great news but everyone still seems positive as the counts are so good!
Now we have 2 weeks of NO hospital visits! Hopefully :)
I thought we should share this photo as it's very funny! Amanda taking no risks cleaning up some mold in our basement from a little flood! Good news is it's all bleached and cleaned up!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Day 192
 |
| John feeling much better |
After just 3 days in the hospital John is allowed home. The good news is before he left we found out his white count had doubled! His abosolute neutrophil count (anc) is now at a level the doctors wanted to see! (Neutrophils are the bodies first line of defense). I am unsure if he had these, or if these functioned before transplant.
John has had no more fevers and is much more like his old self :)
There is much to celebrate but still much to anticipate and wait for. Let me explain... John has always had white cells, when I say always I mean before transplant. His issue has been dysfunctional T cells and an absence of B cells. We had the transplant to fix that, we do not know if it has fixed that yet; we may know a little more about when the Chimerism test comes back. Perhaps 2 weeks wait on that.
We are excited though but anxious to hear more news. Obviously it's great news that his counts are going back up but we hold out to hear whether the transplant is fixing that particular thing; the thing we really need.
Please pray for us, in the wake of many pieces of good news it has been easy to get swept up in it and forget the big news is still to come. He is NOT fixed yet; right now he is getting better and healing from many infections and the transplant, but the most important and big news is to come.
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