Update on Eileen 4-28-16
Hello all,
I thought I would update you on how Eileen’s CT scan went last week.
Background: Last January we visited the specialist in Seattle. He advised us, because Eileen’s hands and feet were going numb, that we should cut back on the kind of chemo she was receiving. This was called a maintenance dose. So, we changed the dose Eileen was getting hoping that the neuropathy would diminish and that the cancer would not grow. Shrinking would be good, staying the same would be good. Growing would be bad.
Results: So, we were hoping that the CT scan would show good things. I was hoping that the cancer would be gone all together, but was waiting on God. The results were that the cancer seems to not be growing at all. Or at least that it hasn’t grown since the last scan. Hooray! God is good.
Unfortunately, the neuropathy isn’t much different than the cancer. It also hasn’t changed very much. Eileen has a difficult time feeling her hands and feet, especially her fingers. This causes her to walk a bit funny, and is unable to do things with her hands that she used to do.
Things to pray for:
1) Eileen’s body decided that it doesn’t like potassium. The blood tests for the past several months have shown that she is dangerously low. Low levels of potassium is bad because it can cause your heart to stop. Eileen is taking supplements, but these don’t seem to be enough. So, she is going to the hospital a couple of times a week for infusions. These infusions last for several hours and so, though she’s getting to meet a whole new bunch of folks, it isn’t what she wants to spend her day doing.
2) With the ingestion of potassium, comes pretty bad nausea. After taking her supplement, she almost always needs to take some kind of antacid. Which by itself isn’t bad, if it works, but it also puts her to sleep. Sleeping this much isn’t really a good thing.
3) In line with all this, Eileen isn’t able to exercise much. This, plus the sleeping and sitting around getting infusions, is causing her muscles to atrophy. She is slimmer than ever before, but in this case it isn’t a good thing.
4) We don’t know if this effect is a result of weight loss or the chemo, or even cancer, but Eileen is very cold most of the time. You’ll see her wearing a hat, coat, and gloves a lot and this is the result.
5) Her hair is starting to fall out. It was an interesting, even a funny thing, when it didn’t fall out early in the process, but having it fall out now is a different kind of thing.
Special note: There isn’t much of this that is too sensitive to talk about (most of the time). If you have questions, feel free to ask. We know what’s going on. We’re not afraid to talk about it. God is in it with us. He has a plan. He loves us. And if we can help others with fear, curiosity, or any other kinds of questions, we are happy to help.
Thank you for your prayers throughout this process. God is good and we’ve seen some amazing things. We knew most things were there, just waiting to be unleashed on someone in need. But it is still very cool to watch it all unfolding. Here are a few examples:
We’ve not needed to cook a meal at our house for over seven months. The people of the church has done an amazing job of feeding us. Every evening at around 6:00, someone shows up on our porch thanking us for letting them serve us by blessing us with meals.
A fellow in the town is mowing our lawn each week. Not only is he mowing it, he edging, trimming, feeding, and doing all sorts of other care kinds of things. He’s an amazing young fellow. We are really blessed.
People come and trim Eileen’s finger and toe nails.
This is just a small glimpse into what the saints are doing for us. Laying down their lives to serve Jesus by serving us. We thank you and bless you.
God has been amazingly gracious to us through the body of Christ being Jesus to us. It makes me want to break out in a doxology. So, I will: Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen!