August 9, 2009

There now, I didn't take as long to write this time. Anne has done incredibley well this week. She recovered from the chemo in what seems like record time--I think this time she was tired for only about 3 days. I think her body has adjusted to the chemo. The Neulasta seems to be helping as well--since her white cells and neutrophils are staying in a more normal range, it must have something to do with her ability to fight the effects of the chemo on her system.

Speaking of effects on her system, the chemo seems to be doing the job not only on the liver metastases, but on the colon tumor itself. She will undoubtably be embarrased by this tidbit, and mad at me too, but on Friday she passed her bowel stent. I got a frantic call from her while I was operating on Friday. During the morning, she noted something a bit wrong, and found the stent making it's way out! I won't go over details (for fear of reprisals), but apparently her tumor has shrunk enough that the stent fell out!!!! I think that is a fantastic bit of news. Praise God. Obviously, her colon has opened up enough that the stent is no longer necessary. The stent looks like a metal Chinese finger trap--In it's opened state, it pushes against the bowel wall (or in her case the tumor) to open the inside of the intestine so she doesn't get impacted (I know she's going to kill me for going into this!). Her's was a 30mm stent. Well, apparently her canal is now greater than 30mm wide, so it just fell out. I'm excited about that. Just one more small miracle that has been happening. There are now quite a number of things that have happened to show all of us that God is working on her--either directly through His love for her, or indirectly through the medical care she has been given.

Now how's this for a Bible verse:

The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.

~ Lamentations 3:25, NLT

I'd say He is! He has heard all of our (and your) prayers and is acting upon them. We have definitely been seeking God more for help in this trying time, and He is comforting us, as are all of you. She has 5 more sessions of chemo to go through, and the end of the tunnel is in sight. The past few months have indeed gone by quickly. Thanks to global warming (not) we have had a beautiful summer here in Michigan--not too hot, and fairly wet, but not too humid either. I'm not so sure the farmers have been happy, but I have been. As much as I miss going to Nigeria (another team from HELP goes over in a few weeks) I must admit, I don't miss the heat over there. There are 2 seasons in Nigeria---Hot and Wet, and Hot and Dry! I've never been one for really hot (75-80 degrees is fine by me) which is probably why we wound up here in Michigan anyway. Mind you, I'd be happy if it were 75 degrees all year round, which I can't say we have here, but it's easier to get warm than it is to get cool, so I'll put up with it.

God Bless,
Tony