August 31, 2009

Well, as usual, it's been a while since I last wrote. Again, that's a good thing, since Anne continues to do incredibly well. God is taking care of her as only He can. Her labs continue to be normal. Where we used to be facing low neutrophil counts, today's was again within normal range. She's continued to have no side effects from the chemotherapy. Even her hair has stopped falling out! If you didn't know she had cancer, you'd never guess. She actually has even worked a couple of days in the office in the last couple of weeks--not putting patients in rooms like she used to, but scheduling surgeries, answering phones, editing dictation, etc.

She even felt good enough to go away this past weekend. I had taken Friday off (a rare event, but I was supposed to go to a meeting in Memphis that was cancelled at the last minute) so I took the opportunity to spend some more time with my "lovely bride" (an inside joke if you've ever listened to Christian radio). We wound up going to the Leelanau Peninsula with our friends Andy and Sharon. We had never been there before, even though we have lived in Michigan for 20 years now. To think it's only 2 1/2 hours away or so. And talk about beautiful. It reminded me a lot of New England, especially when we visited a couple of lighthouses, and "Fishtown" in Leland, near where we stayed. Although it rained all Friday and Saturday, we had a great time. We rested a lot, and visited a bunch of wineries the area is famous for. The wine's not nearly as good as from California (they can't grow the variety of grapes because of the short growing season), but really they weren't that bad--so I had to buy some, of course. We also had some excellent meals (mostly fresh fish from Lake Michigan), and did a bit of shopping in some of the little shops in Empire, Leland, Sutton's Bay and Traverse City. Overall, I'd say we had a fantastic time. I can't wait to go back already.

My verse for today is: "But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God." Psalm 146:5, NLT

How true that is! Anne and I are so incredibly joyful to be coming out of this experience. Of course it's not over yet, but the end is in sight, and God has provided us with miracle after miracle. Anne had chemo treatment number 9 today--only 3 more after this one. We'll be hoping for surgery after that to remove the colon mass--hopefully the liver tumors will have shrunk so much that they don't need to do anything about them. I'm expecting them to necrose and die completely--and I'm convinced it will happen. Her latest liver function studies are normal--mine aren't even normal (and it doesn't have anything to do with how much alcohol I drink, thank you--it's genetic).

Well, enough for now. I better hit the sack so I can function in the office tomorrow (yuk--I hate office hours).

God Bless,
Tony