Good Evening, 

I trust you have had a blessed weekend! This is our first week since October that we haven’t had a clinic appointment! Yaayyyy! This was definitely deserving of some sort of celebration. So this morning, Em, Mom and I took apart our closets to “re-sort” our treasures. Packages of crocheted lace and embroidered linens our grandmothers and great-grandmothers labored lovingly over to adorn their homes with grace and beauty were tenderly unpacked, some once again fulfilling their purpose in our home, others carefully replaced in their paper wrapping for another time.  Mama is slowly but surely regaining strength in her arm; she is diligent in performing her therapy exercises and is able to extend a bit more every day. We were a little surprised at the tenacity of pain and stiffness in that arm. There is a fine line between favoring it with loss of mobility and over-stretching causing injury or harm that Mama has to experiment with and I know she would appreciate prayer for this. It looks like we will not be able to keep our radiation appointment for next week based on progress, and truthfully, I don’t think that is a huge issue of concern to us at this point. We are taking on bite size pieces of life again with faltering relish so to speak. Garrison, Benjamin and Samuel especially are progressing excellently in their studies, embracing their various subjects with a will. Last night, I hung up Mama’s beautiful flowers to dry in the dining room and she exclaimed, “Aren't you so excited those are drying!” The act is simply a tangible picture of something being finished and the blessing preserved and vigilantly stored away indelibly on our memory. God is redeeming this suffering and sorrow in sometimes apparent and sometimes yet imperceivable ways. He is so faithful in working all things for the good of those who love Him. “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 

Bless you all tonight, 

The Lenz’s

Good Morning Everyone, 

I’m sorry for the delayed update about Tuesday and the day before... very full days at the clinic. But good too. Mama was excited to have her drains removed finally, Daddy thinks they are the strangest invention. :o) Mama is pleased with her physiotherapist, an encouraging, sanguine lady. They noticed Mama’s right arm was swelling a bit and the surgeon’s assistant said, “I know who to call.” :o) The appointment was helpful from a healing and hopeful prevention of lymphedema perspective.  

Our oncologist reviewed the pathology results with us. He used words like wonderful and fabulous.  He asked rhetorically if we had told everyone on the surgical team what a good oncologist he was and when we readily assented he offered to write us up an appointment with psychology. ;o) This reminds me of Ben’s unpredictable style of humorously drawing attention away from the commonsensical, substantiated facts of life, while making himself the object of jesting deprecation. :o) 

We also consulted with our radiologist who recommended radiation for Mom citing studies that prove significant increased survival percentages with treatment. Tentatively, Mom is scheduled for treatment the first week in February. But considering how sore her arm is and how impossible it is for her to imagine lifting it above her head, we suspect she may need a few more days to heal. They did intimate their preference to begin as soon as possible to prevent any cancer cells from developing radiation resistance or immunity. So, that is the next battle and we pray for continued peace and assurance and clarity for all the decisions to be made.  God has been so gracious to us in sustaining Mama and protecting her from many complications, only giving us what He knew we could handle, making the treatments so effective, relationally drawing us all closer to Himself and each other, and giving us the love and support of you, which has been an incredible, unexpected blessing. 

I hope this finds you cozy and warm. Blessings on your day!

Lenz’s 

For those interested: :) 

On the practical side of life...we have finished our tiling project with relatively few mistakes. Uncle Steve and Aunt Susan generously and patiently taught us to do the project ourselves! We were remarking on how kind it was that our parents allow us to learn a skill that will benefit future homes through experimentation on their’s...I suppose you could also say the boys are so wonderful for making free (if imperfect) home improvements! Ha :) A center of independently-functioning, economically sustainable and distinctly efficient industry at it’s best!  As I write Charlie is drilling the last few screws before we sand and stain his cabinet. We are thankful Mama had the bright idea to introduce projects! The time has flown by and work discussions have provided an excellent diversion.

We are rejoicing having just received the final pathology report. All tissue was negative!  Excepting two microscopic in situ disease cells. Pathology has confirmed that the cancer was responsive to chemotherapy. We are so thankful the chemotherapy was effective in destroying the cancer and then also for a thorough surgeon who was skillful and confidant. Even though technically Mama is cancer free (by our deduction) we know she will still have continued immunotherapy and radiation. We are incredibly thankful that the doctors know this cancer so well and so know what treatments bring the best outcome. And then overall so thankful for the ultimate Healer who orchestrates everything for His glory and works in ways we never could have imagined to draw us near to Him. 

Mama is continuing to heal and her voice is coming back by turns. Yesterday, Em and I were working on something in the kitchen and suddenly I turned around and caught Mom casually putting a pot in the oven. Not good! :o) We all forgot the last few days in a merry burst of laughter! :o) I don’t believe we could ever be quite successful in making her corner interesting enough to keep her there long despite its pleasantness. Mama is so much a part of the inner workings of this home it is hard when she is necessarily inactive for a time, but it is requisite for her healing. Knowing this in advance, she planned all sorts of projects before surgery for us to do while she was healing. :o) Consequently, Uncle Steve and Aunt Susan are helping the boys grout and tile one of the bathrooms and Charlie is building a bathroom cabinet, so there is busyness and no idle staring out of windows here. 

We are so grateful for your continued prayers and love. Blessings on your day!

Good Morning Dear Friends,

THANK YOU for all the kind notes posted! They are precious encouragement to us! Mama is home in her corner with favorite books and music, a cup of tea and flowers. :o) She is still doing well keeping on top of the pain. We are hoping her voice comes back soon; she is hoarse from the breathing tube during surgery so she can still only whisper. We are told that will go away quickly. Hopefully! :o) We miss Mama's voice and laugh. We're praying for healing and continued protection against infection and sickness.

We are also waiting on the pathology report.We were told we would hear last night but as far as we can tell they are very busy and must not have all the results yet.

Last night we read Psalm 103 together, reflecting on the goodness of God.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s... As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust..."

May you all have a blessed day!
Love to you all!

Mama came out of recovery last night at 5:30 pm. She was doing well with big smiles and ready to celebrate being up and over the hill. :o) The nurses told her the good news but she didn’t quite understand what they were saying until Daddy explained it to her again and then she was really surprised and thankful for the good news so far. 

As we expected, Mama struggled a bit coming off the anesthesia. She had apnea from some of the narcotic pain drugs which prevented her from coming out of recovery right away.  This morning she was finally able to keep a whole meal down; she was so hungry! She is doing really well now; her pain level has become manageable and the surgeon said she is healing wonderfully. Actually, we are surprised; we expect to go home soon within the next few hours possibly! 

Mama asked me to especially thank you all for prayers. They were an immense blessing to her!

Mama was transferred to recovery so we may see her in an hour or less from now. The pathology results for the lymph nodes will come tomorrow. We just received very good news from our surgeon's nurse! They discovered there was no residual tumor but rather what they called fibrotic tissue where the tumor had been. The margins around the tumor were also negative! We are so overwhelmingly grateful and praising God.

Thank you to all the faithful prayer warriors joining us in coming before the throne of grace.  Mama has been in surgery for about an hour and a half.  Daddy, Aubrey and Garrison are now waiting in her assigned room in the Eisenburg building (Methodist Hospital) We will continue to update you as we know more as well as when she is in recovery.
Love,
Emily for all

Per request, we wanted to share a few times with you today. Karen was checked in at 5:45 am this morning.  They have just taken her away with a smile on her face.  We are told they probably won't start surgery until 8:00 or 8:30 and then she will be finished in about four hours. (We are on the 2nd floor of Eisenberg, Desk 2-4.) Thank you for your prayers!!  Love, Craig, Garrison and Aubrey

Greetings Dear Friends,

Just a quick update on Mama; her pre-op appointments went well today and she was especially aware of and thankful for prayers. We will most likely check in for surgery early tomorrow morning. Besides prayer requests for safety, our earnest desire is that we would represent Christ well and be a light for His name, that we would be a witness to His faithfulness and through His Spirit bring encouragement to others. The boys and Daddy have kept a prayer vigil in the middle of the night for Mama that has been a blessing for all of us.  We have a firm assurance in God’s sovereignty and yet are continually more and more convinced of the effectiveness of prayer (Ja. 5:16) because it pleases Him (Pr.15:8). 

He came near when we called on Him; He said, “Do not fear.” (Lam. 3:57)

I will try to update you tomorrow night or the next. We are so thankful for all your prayers and your continued faithful acts of kindness; we are strengthened for this task by your love! May you all have a blessed evening! 

A treasured verse a good friend recently shared with us: 

“But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”

Psalm 5:11-12

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