I was supposed to be on a business trip today and so this was going to be Karen’s solo trip to the oncologist to review last Friday’s MRI results. My brother Steve, however, is always the dutiful and doting brother, and was kind enough to accompany Karen to the appointment. This appointment turned out to be one of the most encouraging to date.

Karen’s radiation oncologist normally sees people who are dying and and so the news he often has to deliver is done so in somber tones. Today, however, her appointment ended with him hugging her . . . and not letting her go for quite some time. If all the chipper hugging wasn’t enough to clearly communicate good news,what he actually told Karen did the trick.

Here’s the synopsis:

• There continues to be no sign of Cancer in Karen’s brain
• The upper spine has not shown any signs of growth
• The tumors on her lower spine continue to shrink
• We may continue to see shrinkage as her body flushes the dead cells out of her system
  

Interestingly the radiation oncologist said that he would have expected the cancer to start showing signs of growth by now if it was going to start at all. I would like the nuero-oncologist to confirm this assessment but we are nevertheless very thankful for the wonderfully encouraging meeting today.

On the hair-front it turns out that Karen’s “reverse Mohawk” is perfectly explainable, and though the nurses today assured her that her hair will not be like it was before radiation, the stripe itself should go away.

The next MRI will be in about 2.5 months. Until the next post we thank you for continuing to present Karen before our Heavenly Father in prayer.

Thanks again to all who continue to ask for updates and bring on blessings with your prayers! There isn't a whole lot new to report, but the MRI on Friday went well. It was even shorter than 3 hours this time, and I managed to sleep through a good portion of it. I'll be meeting this week again with my Radiation Oncologist to get a report and check in with him about my physical changes. I'll be getting weighed again too and seeing if my new diet additions are helping me to physically stabilize. On this coming Friday, I have a scheduled visit to a neuro-psychologist to investigate the surgery and radiation affects on my brain. For some reason I'm a little more stressed about that than I am about possibly finding more spinal spots. I'm pretty sure this week will go fine and smoothly though, and I continually thank the Lord for his work in me.

Yesterday was our initial meeting with a nutrition specialist. I honestly didn't go to it with a very high hope and tried to keep an open mind one way or the other. Our meeting with Tinrin (her name) was at her home in a lovely Lafayette neighborhood rather than in her far away office in Berkeley, and she was recommended to us by our dear radiation oncologist. We discovered within minutes seeing the books on her shelves that she is a strong Christian, and she spent a wonderful 2 hours with us, half of the time talking about the Lord in our lives.

To make it even better, she didn't just throw generic diet info at me. She mentioned many familiar things, but she was looking at my most recent medical info, blood and MRI results, and she asked a lot about my daily life and eating habits. All of her recommendations were applied to what I'm already doing. She took into consideration the fact that I have my hands full with company work and full, busy days with the children as well as the type of eating I'm used to. She was clear about the levels of nutrition and vitamin intake I need according to my body's current state so that I can recover most efficiently from the intense radiation treatments I experienced. The next 3-6 months is most important to my full recovery of health and strength and it's great that she gave us mostly easy things to implement in our daily lives.

I did most of my new foods shopping at Trader Joe's today (there is a brand new one about a mile from our house!) and it's proximity makes for a great start to implementing things right away. I'll let you know soon how I feel.

I have another MRI test on Friday the 20th, another radiation doctor meeting the following week, followed by an appt. with a rehabilitative neuro-psychologist shortly after that to determine a baseline for my current memory and speech recall. Once we get through these next few adventures we may change our blog's name to something more family oriented and by God's grace give you only family updates.

Also, please pray for our dear friend John who has major Pancreas problem, possibly cancerous. He was rushed to emergency this morning, and he is scheduled for surgery and a long recovery next week.

From Karen:

Just a quick update--my dear hubby scheduled an appt. with a nutrition specialist (referred by our radiation oncologist) this Tuesday morning so we can try to correct my continuous problem of losing weight. (I never in my life thought I would have this problem!) In the meantime, I keep trying to follow various advice I receive from many concerned. It's easy to not do well in that area when I'm scrambling around just to make sure my family's meals are provided for them. I need to work harder at planning more wisely on my intakes.

The Lord humbles me with things like taking my high singing notes away for a few days. (By the way--I never said "ME ME MEEE" in the shower!! It was more like eeee's oooo's and aaaah's. David wrote that paragraph.. :-P ) Today in the worship service, some of the melody notes just wouldn't come out. I must be careful to praise Him with my singing and to be patient with His changes in my body right now.

It's been about a month since my head fuzz started growing again, and it is VERY slowly improved. I still have a pretty thin area down the middle of my head that looks like a skunk stripe (hopefully I don't smell like one). Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm trying to be patient for it to start looking a bit more normal again so I don't always need a hat or wig.

Despite all of these continuous small difficulties upon which I hope for improvement, we continue to hear of other beloved ones who are encountering major difficulties, illnesses, and challenges. It reminds us of our need to pray for many and to care for those around us who are deeply in need. We MUST remember how the Lord works through us in our struggles for His own will and glory.

Love Karen
--------------------------------------------------

From Dave:

I’ve been busy now that I am 100% back to work so I’ve had ideas for things to write on the blog but with no time to write them down they’ve remained ideas and eventually left my mind completely. Today, however, seeing as it is Easter and that we had the opportunity to simply chill at home after church today I got it in my craw to write a little something. That is one of the many blessings of resting from your daily work on the Sabbath, it gives you a chance to do what you would like to do everyday but simply don’t have time for. I love the Sabbath!

The familiar verse of scripture “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” found in Mark 8:36 has been coming to my mind a lot recently but in the context not of riches but of our health. When you are faced with physical challenges it is easy to fall into the trap of making your physical health the most central part of your life and thoughts. But for the Christian our physical comforts or even our physical well being and health are not the penultimate goal for each of us to pursue.

God's word is clear that though the world he created originally was “VERY good”, that due to our sin the world we see around us today (including our own bodies) are only a dim reflection of the garden world that he originally created. There are still many good things to enjoy around us, but the Christian knows that the ultimate and unnatural end for each of us is the grave. No matter how organic, or genetically modified, or raw, or cooked, or balanced, or Atkins our diet may be, the results of our sin will lead us to the grave.

This is just as true when I consider the wonderful answered prayers regarding Karen’s own healing. God has been faithful, has heard our cries and yours and has seen fit thus far to bring health and vitality progressively back to Karen’s body. In the ultimate analysis, however, what would it profit Karen to gain all of this health now (the whole world) and yet in the end to stand before her creator and to hear “depart from me for I never knew you” (to lose her soul).

For the Christian our hope is not in temporary and partial healing that God brings today through medicine, doctors, healthy diets etc. Our hope is in the total healing that Jesus Christ purchased for his people once and for all in history when he conquered sin and death in his resurrection. Those who God has been gracious to call to himself have not only been granted a reconciled relationship to God and have not simply had their sins washed away, we also have the promise of the resurrection. This is an oft overlooked and undervalued reality to our salvation. One day the work Christ began on the cross will be completed when our bodies are fully restored and every mark and stain of sin in the creation is totally washed away.

I doubt Karen or I will still be alive for Christ’s 2nd coming and so I expect we will die and our bodies will return to the dust. But this reality holds no fear for us because we know that this life is not the end, and heaven is not the end either. We have the hope of the resurrection and the contented expectation of a world renewed and in which we can worship our Heavenly Father “walking with him in the cool of the day” for all eternity. (Genesis 3:8)

Happy Easter, Happy Resurrection Day.

Sorry that it has been so long since we updated everyone. Our last few weeks have been so busy, and with my energy slightly improving each week, it's been easy to forget to keep our beloved friends and dear ones updated. You continue to be amazingly kind and generous to us with your love, prayers and generosity, and we can't be thankful enough!

Just a quick update on my progress: Due to the shock my body has taken from both the surgery and especially the radiation I have continued to lose weight these last few months, even though the rest of me seems to improve, especially my energy levels. I am starting to look pretty boney and my tiniest clothes are falling off. We don't have a scale at home (I've never liked weighing myself), so I used one while we were at my brother's house yesterday. I've lost another 5 lbs since my Feb. appt., and my total weight lost since November is about 15% of where I was in September. I certainly didn't mind losing some of my flab, but it's starting to get concerning. (People are noticing more b/c my Spring clothes are only 2 layers, in contrast to my 4 or 5 layers of bulky Winter clothing to stay warm!)

I'll be keeping better track of my food intake (which I thought had been sufficient up to this point) and meeting with the radiation doctor again at the end of this month. I'll have another (lengthy) full MRI appt. on April 20th and will touch base again around that time.

Thank you as always for your support and prayers. So very much appreciated!

A last minute addition to this entry before I send it off to the printers ... I seem to have gotten my full vocal range back. I surprised myself in the shower this morning with a chorus of loud "La La Las" and "Me Me Mees." This is an answer to prayer over the past few months and something I am really excited about.