Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Good Morning Everyone, 
I hope you all had blessed Christmas celebrations full of the knowledge of God’s goodness and focused on heaven’s Giver of Life! 
We spent the weekend playing music for Christmas Eve (our family’s universally ascribed favorite service), enjoying Ben’s repeated and improved Luke 2:1-21 recitations, savoring Daddy’s buttery shrimp and Mama’s “Bruna Bönor” and “Saffron Bulle”, conversing on endless topics, learning a game Daddy played with his family when he was young(!), relishing the books and documentaries we gave each other as gifts endeavoring to absorb some of the wealth of wisdom and good information in them... It was a precious time. 
Yesterday’s appointments went very well; God gave us confidence and clarity of purpose regarding the order of Mom’s future treatment and surgery, a certain answer to prayer. There was some question of resuming Taxol and whether it would interfere with the surgery schedule, general treatment schedules, etc. Previously, I wrote that it was not likely Mom’s nerve pain would diminish to barely noticeable. I’m not sure how or why (except for the working of God) but her symptoms have decreased to the point where once again we discussed Taxol treatments, not necessarily a preferred topic for deliberation by this time. :) We were also a little apprehensive of our appointment yesterday morning because we were not scheduled to see our regular oncologist.  Like so many times before, all this was brought before our heavenly Father and we were blessed to see Him still our souls and prepare a path for us, bringing clarity out of uncertainty. We have plans to proceed with surgery in the next few weeks (with no positive date until we meet with the surgeon on January 4th) and then possibly, if Mom’s nerve pain continues to heal as it has she will finish as many Taxol treatments as possible.  We choose to trust in Him who has proven Himself infinitely faithful on our behalf.  In the next few days, we would appreciate prayer specifically for wisdom in surgery decisions, that God would provide us with clear, definitive answers to our questions, so we will know what pleases Him and be confident in it. Please know we love and appreciate you so much and are forever ineffably grateful for all your prayers.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

There is not much to report this week except that no news is good news! Mama says her neuropathy pain might be improving, that is, lessening. We are excited although not sure what we should attribute it to, the fact that she has not had Taxol for 2 ½ weeks and she could be healing already? Or perhaps because she is no longer taking the Lyrica drug so her feet are not swelling so much, or maybe even the B vitamins she started taking last week are helping? Whatever it is we are thanking and praising the Lord especially now as we draw near Christmas and prepare our hearts with gratefulness to worship Him and celebrate His birth!
Speaking of which, this home is full of preparation and secrets, the savory smells of almond, saffron and cinnamon as the last few treats are baked and the hushed “Don’t look!”s as odd-shaped bundles wrapped in blankets are carted from room to room. Ben’s room especially is always shrouded in mystery. Every Christmas he makes special hand-made gifts and throughout the month of December we can hear curious hammerings and machinery and smells of burnt leather and wood stain seep out from under his door. :o) These small acts of generosity being such a wonderful reminder of the greatest gift of all…!
May you all be blessed this Christmas with a grateful comprehension of God’s love for us in giving us His Son “whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power….” “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11, Hebrews 1:2-4, Romans 5:7-8)

Monday, December 13, 2010

We saw our oncologist today and were encouraged by his visit! Mama will only resume Taxol treatments if her nerve pain is reduced to “barely noticeable”. As that is not likely, I think we are safe to assume Mom is finished for now with chemotherapy and will continue with Herceptin which is immunotherapy and less physically taxing. Our oncologist said we are not to worry about this conclusion of Taxol being a setback in the overall treatment plan. He said, “Don’t think that way.” ;o)


Mama received Herceptin today and will continue with weekly treatments throughout December at which point we will switch to once every two or three weeks. A consultation with our surgeon is scheduled for January 4th. We would appreciate continued prayer for good communication; more trust in God’s goodness and that the Lord would continue to guide the minds of our doctors.

Praying you are all warm and safe after the Minnesota blizzard!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement; you don’t know how much they mean to me and us.

We just received an email from our Oncologist this morning, No more Taxol. Have the nurses call me Monday and I can stop by.

Prayers have already been answered… so thankful… a great peace has set in.
Love,
Karen for all of us here

Monday, December 6, 2010

Thank you all for your notes and prayers! The Lord gave us peace and assurance as we needed it.
We are grateful for His sovereignty in everything. However much we plan and take counsel even so it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand (Proverbs 19:21) and He directs our steps (Proverbs 16:9). We are reminded (not for the first time in recent history :o)) that God disposes even kings as He pleases (Proverbs 21:1) and so take comfort that whatever a doctor’s decision or study coordinator’s input is, it is guided by One who makes no mistakes and who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. Oh, sweet confidence! “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone”.
I would say that overall our appointment today went well, but not without struggles and uncertainty as to what action to proceed with at times. We weren’t able to see our oncologist for very long; he generously made himself available to stop in for a brief consultation even though technically he was “booked” all day. We were very satisfied with his decision. He suggested cutting the Paclitaxel dosage basically in half which would have allowed Mama to still receive it but hopefully without such harsh results. Unfortunately, after he left, the study coordinator found a detail in the study manual that wouldn’t allow Mom with stage 3 neuropathy, to switch to that dosage... I won’t weary you with more details. Suffice to say, Mama didn’t receive the Paclitaxel today (She did still receive Herceptin). We are somewhat glad because this gives us another week to observe how Mama is doing, but I think you’ll know what I mean when I say we wish the decision could have remained as our doctor suggested rather than the study criteria. Of course the truth above still applies and we rest in the knowledge that God had the right treatment in mind for Mama today whatever the outcome. We still pray for wisdom for the doctors next week as they reassess Mom’s ability/necessity of continuing treatments and also peace and assurance for Mama in communicating with different doctors especially ones we don’t see regularly. Thank you for your kindness to us in so many ways, your expressions of care and love. We are so grateful for you.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Good Evening,
We are enjoying a restful night together after an exciting morning of worship and celebration; rejoicing in all the good things God has done for us! We would appreciate prayer for wisdom as we, and specifically Mama has a tough decision to work through before next treatment, tomorrow. As you know, the Paclitaxel has caused considerable nerve pain and neuropathy for Mama. The Lyrica drug helped to alleviate the problem for a few weeks but is now causing her feet and ankles to swell making her symptoms worse. Mama’s doctor told her it is really up to her to decide how severe her pain is and thus how much longer to continue treatments. We know or think we know that every treatment reduces the risk of recurring cancer. I think we can’t know exactly because we don’t know how much cancer still exists or if any exists at all. We are also informed the nerve symptoms will get worse each treatment and the worse they get the “harder” (longer) it will be before they heal. Of course Mom wouldn’t want to continue unnecessary treatments and suffer permanent nerve damage. On the other hand, she certainly does want to decrease her risk of recurring cancer and would like to have finished all the treatments… Thank you for reading this out and praying for us as I know so many of you will. Hopefully, after our appointment with our Doctor tomorrow we will have more information and God will make it clear what treatment Mama should have. We'll let you know what happens tomorrow. Love to you all and good night.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring...

Jesu, joy of man's desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.
Through the way where hope is guiding,
Hark, what peaceful music rings;
Where the flock, in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.
Theirs is beauty's fairest pleasure;
Theirs is wisdom's holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown.