The 1040 Window

You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.  Matthew 1:21

What a difficult and amazing year this has been.  As we celebrate the birth and life of our Lord Jesus Christ, we also celebrate the wonderful gift of life that God has given Aaron.  We look back in surreal wonder to the day when the doctor told us Aaron had leukemia and it would take 6 months to a year of our life.  But after many prayers, tears, drugs, and many, many days in the hospital, we have finished the journey and we are looking forward to a lifetime of remission!  And so we praise God in a special way this Christmas and we thank you for the incredible love and support that you showed us this past year.  You mean more to us than we can express. May your Christmas be greatly filled with the joy of Christ!

P.S.  We want you to come to our *God Smites* party on Saturday, January 27!  We do not have any other details yet, but please put it on your calendar because we really want you to come. Check back to this blog soon for the rest of the party details.

With much love,
Aaron, Natalie, Michaela and Christopher Boydston

(acboydstons at juno dot com)

Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.  2 Corinthians 1:8-11

you may have noticed that this blog has been unavailable now and then over the past couple weeks. if you haven’t, you’ve been lucky (or checking late at night).

truth is, aaron is just too popular…especially amongst those selling certain pharmaceuticals and offering online gambling. that’s right, this blog is getting spammed. a lot. now, the spam blocker is catching all of the spam before the comments get published, but even having to deal with these illegitimate comments is putting a huge tax on my little server…so much so that the whole thing is shutting down as it gets overwhelmed.

unfortunately, i’m left with only one choice: i am turning off comments, at least for a time, on aaron’s blog. fortunately, all the comments that exist currently will still be there. unfortunately, this means you’ll have to communicate your love and affection for aaron and cothe old fashion way: by email!

sorry about the bad news.
- nstryker

On Tuesday, we got discharged from the hospital for the last time!!!

On our way out, we had a very special experience. We ditched “escort,” who usually lead us out, and decided to stop by the ICU, where I spent so much time earlier this year. We peaked thru the doors but did not notice any nurses that were well known to us. But before we could leave the nurse in charge of the ICU came to the doors, recognized us, and said to, “Come in!” Immediately, a commotion was started as nurses remembered us, even though none were the main nurses that took care of me the most. It was so amazing how touched they all were to see me “doing so well.” Just the fact that I was alive was a pretty big deal to them! There were even some tears from some of them, and a couple of nurses chased after us when we left because one of them had missed us while we where in the ICU visiting. It was just so amazing and very touching. If you are ever in an ICU for any significant amount of time, do go back and visit them, if you can, to say thanks. I can not tell you how much it means to those nurses. It was very wonderful.

Unfortunately, though, Michaela woke up sick on Tuesday morning, so we thought it best for me not to be around her for a couple of days, since my immune system was just coming back. So she and Chris went up to my parents while Natalie and I went to her parents. It was very sad not getting to be with my kids right away, since that is what I look forward to so much while in the hospital. But a couple days later she was getting better and my immune was even stronger, so we were reunited finally!

Most of last week I was feeling pretty awful and was also really depressed (partially just because of pain killer withdrawals, and partially because of too-complicated-to-explain emotional stuff). But by Friday I was feeling a little physically better and Tim, Nolan, and Nathan hung out with me on super short notice and totally and completely cheered me up more than I can describe!

So now I am on the road to full recuperation, we are looking for a place to live, and going to slowly get back to “regular life.” Wow. It is just so amazing. To think back to May when the doctors where informing us that the whole ordeal would take 6 months to a year of our life (if I survived at all) and wondering how that would even be possible! Well to put it very simply and truly, it was made possible by all of you!!! Praise be to God!!!

P.S. Remember details on a BIG party coming soon! If you have any suggestions or ideas, let us know!

Everyday brings us closer to the (sort-of) finish line which looks to be this Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday at the absolute latest! The thought of getting back to regular life is just wonderful. Being able to really be there with and for my family, getting back my great job, and returning to church and Youth Group… there is so much I miss about it all (mostly all the relationships God has blessed me with!) it almost makes me cry. It was funny; I started to post the other day but then I received my pre-medications for platelets which includes 50mg of benedryl through my IV. Now if you thought benedryl knocked you out when taken orally (or if it does nothing to you, when taken orally), try it through an IV. Woa! Talk about getting slammed onto you bottom. It only takes a few minutes for me to begin slurring my speech like I am intoxicated, and then a few minutes later, nothing but zzz’s. So that post was lost…

My status right now is “on the upswing!” My white blood cells are beginning to come back which also mean I am starting to feel better. After the previous round of chemo, I received a drug called neupogen, which helped the immune system return faster but also seemed to help me feel crummier. Also, it brings the immune system back unnaturally, so there is a risk of over developing white blood cells (this happened last time) and a small risk of regression after the drug is stopped. This time I refused the neupogen and, so far, I am very happy about the decision. One more, very important, thing to mention is that we will be having a party to celebrate finishing! No date or place yet, but EVERYONE is invited, and it will probably happen in January. Please post any ideas and suggestions! Gob bless you all so much.

EDIT: (I had meant to include the following comment when I originally posted, but forgot. So here it is.) Regarding the hospital food, I could be getting out of here none too soon! I am getting to the point where I, literally, can not eat the food sometimes. They put the “food” in front of me and, though I am hungry, I am just unable to eat any of it. Yuck! Real food, I am soon coming for you…