HAPPY NEW BIRTHDAY TO...

C.C. CRAWFORD
November 30, 1999


  

  

Hi Everyone!

Today is a brand new day for Cees!

Even with the W.T.O. riots going on in the City of Seattle and chaos reigning in the streets...life goes on and most folks went about their daily business.

Ours started at about 9:30 this morning as we waited for the stem cell representative to bring Cees' harvested stems cells to his room from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. They are kept about 3 blocks from the hospital and I was kind of worried as to whether or not they would have any problems getting them here with all the roads closed down for the W.T.O. demonstrations.

Our Pastor Steve was there and a very good friend from our church, Ann Kluth, our son's girlfriend, Jennifer and myself. With Michael, our stem cell tech and Donna our nurse attendant, it was a pretty crowded room! Pastor led us in a beautiful prayer as the team stood by in preparation. The weather was rain, rain and more rain outside but the ambiance of our room was peace and excitement for what was about to begin. It was such sharp contrast to what was actually taking place outside!

Michael had brought seven (yes, 7, my wonderful, favorite number!) small bags that contained the precious new life giving cells that had been collected in September. Each one was thawed separately right before it was going to be infused in a basin of warm water, warmed to just the right temperature.

We laughed, we hugged, we talked, we prayed. We stood in awe as we thought about how wonderful it is to be at this place in time when there is such an explosion of medical technology that can give such hope to people facing these medical challenges.

Cees' window faces north and overlooks Queen Anne Hill and Lake Union. When the infusion began it was raining hard outside and then, about the time we started the first bag of stem cells, a rainbow started to form from the left side of Queen Anne hill and progressed across Lake Union to complete a perfect, finished  rainbow at about the University area. the rain continued but underneath the rainbow it had stopped and as we watched it, the closer it got to each new bag being completed, the more the rainbow receded to the right side of the sky....here is the most amazing part...as the 7th bag of cells were emptied and the closer the cells got to being finished, the rainbow continued to recede. At the exact time the cells finished, the rainbow had completely disappeared! The rainbow is a visual sign of a promise from the Lord long ago as a reminder that He will never break His promises...He will always be there for us if we look for Him. He was there with us today and Cees and I truly believe that we are going to make it through this. The Doctor said he did tremendous today...and continues to call him his Star!

He was up and awake and waiting for his lunch and his supper. He took a little walk down the hall and we watched some more of today's goings on in the news. We watched a little Casablanca; to be finished tomorrow night and my son and his girlfriend came with a chocolate birthday cake with a rainbow decorated on it. We each had a piece and gave the rest to the nurses, they'd take it from him anyway as he has to watch his blood sugar...

I tucked him in for the night, kissed him goodnight and left to go home.... Now we start counting up, tomorrow is day 1. About day 14 to 21 we should see some new cell counts coming up. We continue to pray for his vital organs as they recoup from the heavy chemotherapy and that he resists any and all infections while his counts are down.

We are so grateful to all of you that continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers...we will be so glad when this is behind us. But for now we're in it and we're in it to win...

God Bless You All! ! !
Cees & Lynn Crawford


Journal Links

Site Map Meet C.C. Stem Cell Transplant Journal Of Days Obituary
July 31, 2000
August 18, 2000
August 31, 2000
September 9, 2000
September 27, 2000
October 11, 2000
November 14, 2000
January 1, 2001
January 20, 2001
April 1, 2001
May 7, 2001
July 3, 2001
October 29, 2001
October 22, 2002
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