Into Your Hands, I Commit My Spirit................. (Psalm 31:5a)

One picture is worth a thousand words, right? And this one above depicts so well the providential care of God over the crew and passengers of US Airways Flight 1549 that crashed into the Hudson River on January 17, 2009. The cartoon was done by Rex Babin of the Sacramento Bee and sent to me by Gail Barbitta and Tina Short in our church. The Association Press wrote that officials and passengers are praising the cool-headed US Airways pilot from the Bay Area, (Danville-right next to Walnut Creek) who maneuvered his crippled jet and ditched it in New York's frigid Hudson River. All 155 people on board survived. The pilot was 57-year-old Chesley B. Sullenberger III.

Sullenberger's wife, in Danville, told CNN that she was stunned to hear the news from her husband after it was all over. "I hadn't been watching the news. I've heard Sully say to people, 'It's rare for an airline pilot to have an incident in their career,' " said Lori Sullenberger.
"When he called me he said, 'There's been an accident.' At first I thought it was something minor, but then he told me the circumstances and my body started shaking and I rushed to get our daughters out of school." Chelsey Sullenberger, 58, is a former fighter pilot who runs a safety consulting firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft. Witnesses say the pilot appeared to guide the Airbus A320 down. Bob Read, a TV producer who saw the plane go into the water, says it appeared to be a "controlled descent."

Passenger Joe Hart says after both engines cut out, the pilot actually "floated" the plane into the river. He calls the pilot's performance "phenomenal."…Sullenberger…started his own consulting business, Safety Reliability Methods, two years ago. He also flew F-4 fighter jets with the Air Force in the 1970s. The plane, an Airbus A320 that had taken off minutes earlier from LaGuardia Airport bound for Charlotte, N.C., was submerged up to its windows in the river when rescuers arrived in Coast Guard vessels and ferries. Some passengers waited in water up to their knees, standing on the wing of the plane for help.

"We had a miracle on 34th Street. I believe now we have had a miracle on the Hudson," Govenor David Paterson said.

Another person was quoted as saying, “To GOD be the glory that there has been no loss of life at this moment.” The majority of the passengers, walked off under their own power. And this is how I viewed the rest of the week. It was as if God was watching over me and holding me up too.

On Tuesday morning at 9 AM, we were at the hospital and they were waiting for me. By 10 AM all the questions and papers were done and I was dressed up with my hospital robe and my yellow socks. Yellow socks? I thought I would get red socks being at Stanford for that is their school color. But bright yellow or gold is one of the colors of the Cal Bears, their most fearful rival. When the doctor came in, he noticed my college class ring and asked what college I gone to. I told him it was Western Baptist. He said nothing so I asked him where he went to college and he said Stanford and Harvard before going to San Diego State and then returning to Stanford. So I guess he was a pretty smart dude. And that’s nice to know when a guy is going to do surgery on me!

They rolled me into the room, put a cover over my face, sedated me a little to deaden the pain and inserted into the upper chest wall (the space between your collarbone and the breast) a catheter to make chemotherapy easier and more comfortable as well as to take out the stem cells and to bring them back in. When the procedure is over, the catheter will be removed quickly in another same-day procedure. Now there is no need to find a vein every time I get chemo or have the the transplant. This procedure involves a special needle fitting right into the port, so all you feel is the stick—not the poking, prodding, and false tries in one’s arm. The nurse numbed the skin first to lessen any feeling at all. And that’s it. We were given a sandwich and drink and headed back to the hotel for a rest. Later, we went down to the nearby Kaiser hospital, saw an Italian restaurant that had been in business for 56 years called Frankie, Johnie and Luigi located near the Kaiser hospital in Mountain Blue where we picked up all of our meds. We had great dinner that we split and desert. The dinner included a minestrone soup, veal scaloppini and since it was my last meal before entering the hospital, we decided to have a flaky crust Dutch apple pie with berries and ice cream. Both parts of the meal were delicious and the price was quite reasonable.

On Thursday, we arrived at 9 AM and finally got the chemo going about 5:30 PM. The chemo was Cytoxan. It was the heaviest dose of chemo that I have ever had. They really don’t tell you much about the drug but they do explain the side effects. Almost immediately, I started sneezing, then I felt pressure around my eyes and forehead within an hour, I had to hit the pot for the loose stool. Other effects to look out for were irritation of the bladder wall which causes bleeding. As a result, I was told to start drinking three quarts of water each day for several months up through the infusion. Since I wasn’t feeling a hundred percent, I quit working on my computer and went to sleep. Of course, ever hour and a half or two hours, I was awakened to check some things out. But then I was back to sleep almost immediately.

The man next to me did not fair as well and had to stay in the hospital until he would start eating. The doctor whose parents were from Czeckloslovakia came in and we had a great talk. (My mother was from the (Hungry-Czech Empire), and said everything looked good and then told me I could go home. I had three meals during my stay. They were actually very good and not what we usually hear about hospital food. For an example, I was given orange juice, oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins, fruited yogurt, hot cocoa, blueberry pancakes with syrup and strawberry jam and mini cranberry scone. This was probably better than the free breakfast that Denny’s gave to customers this past week! Then the nurses came in to go over our drugs, got a shot of benadryl and I gave myself three shots of neupogen. We had a final visit too from the Dietian, then the nurse wanted to watch Koyce clean the catheter. But before we left, I was fitted with a HEPA face mask. But, the HEPA filters came in pink. Now just remember, I am also carrying a purse to contain my camera, wallet, cards etc, and now these pink things. So, just remember that I could be a little sensitive about this on a bad day. Oh, well, I will send you a picture of it shortly. Tonight we are at home to recover and take some shots for the next week and I won’t be speaking or being around a ground of people for at least three Sundays.