Over the weekend, we got together to celebrate Dad & Kelley's shared birthday of February 19th

We decided Mom needed to wear her party hat

Dan, Todd & Dad

Some of the grandkids

Abbey & Willow with Grandma

Chemo #3

   Dear Ones,

        An interesting thought occurred to us recently and it was so encouraging. Throughout the Bible we read promises from the Lord that He loves His children deeply and He is with them at all times…especially during times of crisis and testing. He is the Great Shepherd and He constantly holds His sheep close to His heart when they are hurting. But it is a “faith hug” since He is not standing next to us in a literal, physical body…He is there “in Spirit” and He wants us to believe His promises. And so I believe He also touches the hearts of other members of the body of Christ to give us literal hugs, words of love and encouragement, and their prayers. The bottom line is that the Lord Jesus is reaching out to us in love, using the rest of His spiritual body…other Christians. Del and I greatly appreciate your hugs, your prayers, and your words of encouragement.

        Del had her third chemo treatment last Friday and now she has a week off treatment. The oncologist’s plan is for Del to have three treatments, then a week off, then three more weekly treatments, a week off, and then three more weekly treatments. At that time she will have another CT scan to see how effective the chemo has been. So far Del has reacted pretty much the same after each chemo. Saturday and Sunday she feels pretty good; Monday and Tuesday she feels blah (we call it a malaise); Wednesday she begins to pick up a little; and then Thursday she is ready for the chemo again on Friday. Her worst side effect (besides losing all her hair) is what’s called “neuropathy” and there is no real treatment for it. Her hands and feet feel numb and  cold most of the time. The cause seems to be that the chemo goes out in the blood vessels to the extremities (hands and feet) and actually destroys the myelin sheath that covers the nerves there. I have neuropathy in my feet from two rounds of chemo (2008 and 2014), but my hands are fine. At this very moment, we are sitting at the dining room table and my dear Del is wearing gloves on her hands even though it’s 74 degrees in the room. Our two main prayer requests are regarding her neuropathy and that she would have an appetite to eat—oh yes, and that the chemo would be effective against the cancer, if that’s what the Lord Jesus wants.

        Well, that’s our update as of Valentines Day. Del won’t have any chemo this week, but will have to have a series of blood tests done. We are so grateful for your encouraging thoughts and prayers. What a privilege to be a member of the body of Christ!

               Lovingly,

                     Bryan, for Del too

       

Follow up

       Hi Dear Ones,

        I thought I would send out a short summary of how Del’s second chemo went yesterday, since many have been praying and are anxious to hear. We had an early appointment at 8:30 AM and met first with Dr D’s nursing assistant. While we were talking about Del’s neuropathy in her hands and feet, Del mentioned about one particular area of her foot that really hurt and wondered if that was due to the neuropathy. We mentioned something our daughter Terry has suffered with called “plantar fasciitis.” The nurse is a runner and knew exactly the typical spot for this to occur. When she pressed on it, Del said that that was the exact area. In one sense that was a relief, in that it can be treated more easily than neuropathy. So Del was urged to get a heel pad for her shoes and was shown various exercises to help her foot pain.

       

        As far as the actual chemo, it went very well and Del basically slept through it. She was feeling pretty energized after the treatment which was the same as last time. I think it was the Benadryl and other drugs they gave her in an IV drip before the chemo. So Del really had a good evening; ate a sizeable supper; and just wanted to get up and do little jobs in the evening. We are thrilled with how God answered prayer so specifically regarding Del’s eating since Friday and Saturday, she has had a good appetite. We are so thankful to our loving Savior who so often expresses Himself through the caring prayers of His children.

        We have “Home Health Care” now and a nurse comes once a week. If we need a physiotherapist, we just have to call. A young man came last week and gave a lot of good counsel, and one thing he stressed was, “You have to force yourself to eat even when you aren’t hungry and the thought of food sounds horrible. You have to have the nutrients in order to fight the cancer.” So that remains one of our foremost prayer requests.

        A simple “Thank you” doesn’t fully express our great appreciation for your concern and your prayers.

                   Warmly,

                           Bryan, for Del too

Update

Dear Ones,

        First of all, thank you for your tremendous kindness and love demonstrated by your faithfulness in continuing to pray for my dear Del. Tomorrow is her 2^nd chemo treatment of this new cycle of a reduced amount of chemo, given weekly instead of every three weeks. She is doing fair as she heads into this next chemo, but a little nervous if this next treatment will worsen her symptoms.

        There is one prayer request in particular that we would ask you to pray for, and that is her appetite. Because the chemo probably affects her taste buds etc, even the smell of food is hard for her to handle. The net result is that she ends up eating very small amounts, which has negative effects in all sorts of ways, not the least of which is that she has lost 44 pounds since she was first diagnosed. Please join our family in prayer that our dear Father would give Del more of a desire to eat. Thank goodness ice cream is still appealing to her. Today we started including a “protein powder” with her drinks.

        One other matter has just raised its ugly head, and that is that Del has an intense pain on the bottom of her left foot. It could be part of the neuropathy that has left her hands constantly feeling cold and numb, and the souls of her feet the same. This pain is deeper than just the surface of the foot.

        We will let you know how tomorrow goes. Again, thank you so much for standing with us.

                      Warmly,

                              Bryan, for Del too