April 21, 2009

Hi again. Today was a slow day. Anne had a liver biopsy at St. Mary's Hospital this morning, and we spent the rest of the day (got back around 1:30 pm after a lovely lunch at Chester's a block away from the hotel) resting in our hotel room. We were picked up right in front of the Gonda Building, which is part of Mayo Clinic. It just happens to be across the street fom the hotel. The street in front of the hotel is like a wind tunnel, but it was nice to be out in the fresh air. A shuttle bus took us to the main entrance of St. Mary's, and after getting lost in one of the hallways, and receiving directions from a very nice man who worked there delivering supplies, we made it to the radiology department. After Anne's biopsy, we had to wait for 2 hours while she recovered. Thankfully, she was in no pain. We took the shuttle back to the Gonda Building and then went to lunch. The staff at these institutions are not only well-trained, but are genuinely the nicest people you could meet.

This afternoon, I've gone through a whole bunch of emails. We have gotten them from as far away as East Asia (Diane and Dr. Stephan Morris--missionaries over there) and Singapore (Debbie and Dr. Kelvin Chen--missionaries who we fell in love with in Egbe, Nigeria and are now back home). We've gotten so many blessings and prayers from all of our friends, and even people we haven't met yet that it has made us both so emotional with your love. God is great and he has blessed us with wonderful friends who have all become our prayer warriors. We have also gotten a number of Bible verses to support us--I personally love them all, so keep them coming!

Tomorrow we will meet with Dr. Michaela Banck for a medical oncology evaluation and then with Dr. Ahlquist, our gastroenterologist who we met Monday, and also Dr. Devine, a surgeon. I'm hoping they have the results of the liver biopsy then and we can discuss treatment options. Anne isn't scheduled for her colonoscopy until Thurdsay, and I think she is already dreading the bowel prep. She has really been a trooper through all of this, when I think most people would be a basket case, but I believe she is receiving her strenght from all of the prayers you all have been sending, and the comfort of knowing God is watching over her. I want to thank you also for the prayers sent for me and the girls as well--we could all use some major Christian love right now.