LOS ANGELES, CA (ANS) — After 14 days in the hospital, Joni Eareckson Tada signed her discharge papers and has left the hospital.
Joni wrote on her blog: “Praising God for healing of my lungs. Fresh air never felt so good! God bless you for praying me to this marvelous release! Onward and upward!”
According to her weblog, it has been Joni’s prayer that this new cancer challenge becomes a platform for showcasing how amazing God is.
Joni was due to be released earlier, but the hospital wanted to make certain that all the proper medical equipment arrived home before she did.
“And for that, I am grateful to God!” Joni said.
Earlier, Joni wrote on her blog: “God bless you for all your many intercessions, especially during the last 10 days I’ve been hospitalized. I’m still battling pneumonia, but we are closer to an overall diagnosis. My chest pain and breathing problems seem to be due to my long-term quadriplegia. I am unable to breathe efficiently (exchanging CO2 for O2), and with that, exacerbated by sleep apnea, it’s no wonder I’ve been saying for the last six months or so, ‘Oh my goodness, I just can’t get a good breath!’
“My condition will be treated medically. And by the way, the doctors believe radiation is not the cause for all this… It’s been building over time.
“All this has made me astounded at how fearfully and wonderfully God has made us!!! My spirits are bright and optimistic, and I’m so thankful to Jesus for carrying me through all this :-). Just like He says in Isaiah 46:4 ‘I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.’”
On Joni’s blog, her husband, Ken Tada wrote from Joni‘s hospital room.
“Both Joni and I and the team at Joni and Friends have been overwhelmed by your incredible response through prayer and Scriptural encouragement. Joni is still in the hospital undergoing tests to determine the cause of her pain and difficulty breathing (the good news is, the doctors have pretty much ruled out radiation).”
Ken Tada shared Joni’s daily patient goals, “especially the one about singing!”
He continued: ”Yes, that’s my wife, always singing her way through whatever suffering! Her spirits are bright and, as you would guess, she is happily trusting this new challenge with our wonderful Savior. So thank you for your continued prayers…”
On February 4, Joni shared: “When the radiation regimen began early last month on my chest wall, I asked my radiologist how I could encourage healing in my lungs. He gave me a simple prescription: breathe deeply, drink lots of water, and keep your cardiovascular rate up through exercise (pumping up your heart rate brings more oxygen to radiation-damaged tissues)… Now, it’s impossible for me to do aerobics, hop on a treadmill, or take a 2 mile walk. But what I can do is have Ken affix my hands to an arm exercise-cycle with athletic wrap, and let me go at it – after about 5 minutes, my heart’s pumping hard. And that means a better chance for my damaged lungs to heal.”
She added: “Yes, I’m ‘feeling the burn,’ and I’ve got 1 Corinthians 9:25 to inspire me, ‘All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for any eternal prize.’ For me, the eternal prize is to honor Christ as best I can through this ordeal, following what John Piper said about his own cancer-battle: ‘Cancer doesn’t win if we die; it only wins if we fail to cherish Jesus Christ.’ Amen to that! So thank you for cheering me on with your prayers. I’m about three-quarters of the way through radiation, asking God to zap any and all cancer cells within my chest wall.”
