An Anchor in Glory

Hello Dear Friends, 

We have had quite a long, eventful day. In the morning, we learned from several forms of imaging that Mama’s tumors are either small tangles of non-cancerous tissue or extremely shrunk cancerous tissue, either scenario being good news! Praise God! Mama wore her wig to day and one of the ladies who did her imaging thought she might look into getting one herself. :o) 

Our oncologist was pleased with these results as well as Mama’s healing from nerve pain, although he did say based on her current pain levels he thinks she is done with Taxol. 

We also met with our surgeon and are set up for surgery next Tuesday. Mama is participating in another interesting study designed to determine whether it is the safest option to liberally remove lymph nodes or if a person having already received chemotherapy would be able to keep the majority of their lymph nodes. Our surgeon does not believe the latter option is safe for Mom since she had such a significant presentation on a sentinel lymph node, so Mom will lose most of the lymph nodes in her right arm. However, the pathologists will examine whether they all needed to be removed or not. Of course Mama is excited to be a part of this research since it would be extremely beneficial from a lymphedema perspective if the premise of the study were true. 

So we will be reading and preparing and making sure Mama is rested this week. We would very much appreciate prayer, that Mom would remain physically healthy and strong and have continued assurance in being safe in the hands of God. Also pray that the surgery itself would go well, that the doctors would be skillful and complete and that she would not have another negative reaction to anesthesia or any other complications, that the doctors would be wise in their application of anesthesia deciding whether or not to use spinal numbing or more anesthesia since Mom is particularly sensitive to the latter. Pray our minds will be ready and strong and free of anxiety, even though this is not an entirely foreign road for us. Pray we would have complete trust in our faithful God who has taken us under His wing and tenderly carries us through. 

Thank you so much! Love to you all, 

the Lenz’s