Gary Bonjour 1951 – 2008

Last week, Gary went to the Illini hospital to have a port implanted in his left upper chest area.  It causes some discomfort.  This port will spare Gary from many IV needles in the hands and arms.  It is implanted under the skin so it just looks like a bump.  It will not interfere with any of his daily activities.  Gary did not want one at first, but four weeks of chemo and 19 IV needles, he now understands the advantages of having the device.

The next appointment at Northwestern will be on June 12. 

Gary and I are thankful for having great family and friends.  You are all helping us to get through each day.  Thank you for all the support and prayers. 

-Patty

Hi everyone! Thought I had better update some things. After Patty gave you the update last Wed. we received word the next day that my last test showed that I am most likely in last stage- three. There is only three stages in Myeloma. I must have had it for years with my Acid Reflux disease masking it. Also my family practioner did not take heed to my worries over other new symptoms I had been noticing. He chalked it up as getting older and my body changing. The nurse practioner caught that I was not myself and listened to me tell these same symptoms six months later. She was the person that got the ball rolling. God bless her, she is a survivor of breast cancer and had the compassion to really listen to me.

All this stage three will do, is make it more glorious for God IF he choses to heal now a dying man. Stage one or two people chalk up to the doctors. I will give the doctors their just due, but we all know God will get the attention and glory this way!

Oh don’t worry! I know God does not have to heal me to get glory. If He sees fit to take me, He sees into eternity for the best outcome for me and those who are left behind. Just because we don’t know who else would benefit does not mean it isn’t so. He is God, not I. I will trust in Him. You know that is the way He wants it. To trust in Him no matter what. ” Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

He also asks us to trust that we need God because or sins in life seperate us from Him on earth and in death. “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.” He wants us to trust Him, that only HE can take that seperation away through the death of His Son Jesus as a substitute payment for us. Man, who has been for years making up thousands of false religions, trying to find a way to make up for sin cannot erase it no matter what! God is too Holy and the sin is much greater than man’s mind knows. GOD had to devise the plan. It had to be just, really pay, and Jesus was the only answer. ” I am the way the truth the life, no man gets to the father, but by me (Jesus).” Thank God I won’t have to pay some day in Hell for all my sins! “For the wages of sin is Death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ or Lord.” Romans 6:23.

Thank God He is very merciful also! “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. Yep! that includes me! I asked forgiveness at age 23! The worst that can happen to me is that I immediately go to be with God the Father and Jesus in Heaven! He even promises to create a new earth called the “New Jerusalem”. Some day after He causes this earth to pass away. There I will live forever with those who where not so arrogant in life or unwise that they turned their back on God’s ONLY provision for salvation. After a billion years in heaven, it will be as if it first begun. Eternity is eternity friends!

Bye for now! God Bless!

-Gary

Gary is still able to work as a counselor with Lutheran Social Services of IL. He can do most of his normal activities, fishing and gardening, with out too much of a problem. The morel (mushroom) season was a bust for us this year. Walking in the woods is very tiring for Gary. Thankfully, this spring was dry which meant that the mushrooms were not as plentiful, at least where we usually hunt. We left all the spores for next year.

Monday’s chemo treatment did not go well. Again, Gary had to be stuck many times (8) to get a vein that would cooperate. He will be getting an IV port ‘installed’ on his chest sometime in the next few days.

Keep praying that Gary can tolerate all the drugs. He was given five different drugs at the chemo session plus the pills he has to take daily. The good news is that his blood tests show he is improving. God has blessed mankind with an amazing mind. Think of how much medicine has changed just in the past ten years.

-Patty

Gary finished his second round of chemo on Monday.  His current treatment plan is in preparation for the stem cell collection.  Every Monday through the end part of July, Gary will receive Velcade (chemo) and a few other drugs…anti-nausea, anti-inflammatory, and bone strengthening drug…through an IV drip.  He is also on a pill regimen throughout the week…steroids, anti-shingles, anti-fungal, antibiotics, and iron.  When the myeloma is in remission, hopefully the end of July, Gary will go to Northwestern Memorial Hosp. for the stem cell collection.  It takes several days to get the cells collected.  The actual transplant will occur a few weeks after his stem cell collection. 

 Stem cells can be frozen for seven to ten years without damage.  Dr. Mehta plans on collecting enough cells to do seven transplants.  Technology is changing very fast in the adult stem cell field.  He wants to have Gary’s cells ready just in case something new comes along that would benefit Gary.  This is one of only a few cancer places that over collect cells ‘just in case’.  God is leading.

This is a note to those of you who will be seeing Gary during the next few months.  Do not worry if you see Gary acting like a 30-year-old one time and a 80-year-old the next.  When taking the steroid, Gary is very ‘up’;  when he is not taking it, he is very ‘down’. 

We love reading all of your encouraging comments.  Everyone has been so supportive.  Gary has a long road ahead with a lot of drugs that will be hard on his body.   Thanks for all the prayers that have been said on Gary’s behalf.  His faith remains strong, he is confident that God will be with him at all times.  

-Patty

It was a sunny day in Chicago.  We had no traffic problems. Wahoo!  The office is on the 21st floor and only a few blocks from Lake Michigan.  It was a great day to enjoy all the sights, even a construction fire in a high rise next to the hospital!  The crew elevators can move really fast when they need to!

Since Alicia gave you the science discussion about a tandem stem cell transplant I won’t go into that.  The first transplant will take about 16 weeks to complete.  Actual hospital days should will not happen until the last few weeks.  We were very happy with the doctor.   At the end of the consult, Dr. Mehta (pronounced “MET-uh”) inquired about Gary’s beard.  When he found out that Gary has not shaved since the age of 18, he started to chuckle and said, “Well, this is going to be about a $100,000 shave.” 

Pray that all goes well during this time period.  Gary wants to be at Zachary’s wedding on September 8.   There will only be about the a 2 week space between getting home from the hospital and the wedding. 

Some good news today is that Gary only has to undergo intraveinous chemo once a week instead of twice a week.  Dr. Mehta said that Gary’s blood tests were a lot better than the ones he had in Bettendorf two weeks ago.  Those tests he said were tainted because of the radio active dye that was put his veins earlier in that week.  It made his kidneys appear worse than they really were.  Praise God for some good news!

-Gary & Patty