Shared Requests

Dear faithful friends,

If you are still checking my blog you qualify as a faithful friend! All is well with my health so far. The last scan was indeed all clear - so sorry I did not realize I had not updated you to let you know for sure. Dr Flaherty said I could go 6 months between scans this time instead of 3, but we split the difference to four and a half months so I didn't get TOO nuts. It is seeming like a long time though, and I admit I start to feel a twinge here or there and worry if the next scan, which isn't until the end of February, will be ok. I recently had some sharp back pains for two weeks, and after calling my oncologist in a moderate panic, who told me to watch it for a week longer, I figured out it was happening when I ate spicy foods! HAHA!!!!! GRATEFUL to need only tums for that pain! Most of the time, though, I really forget about the cancer completely, which is a great blessing! Life is busy, which keeps my mind on other things. Praise the Lord!

I do want to ask you to pray for two other friends. One is Allan. He was diagnosed about a year ago with colon cancer, had surgery and chemo, but his recent scans showed some spots of reoccurance, which was very discouraging for he and his wife, to say the least. He recently started chemo again, so can you please pray not only that it would be an effective treatment this time around, and that he would be HEALED? And also, that both Allan and Donna will have peace day by day as they go through this scary time.

Lastly, a family friend Dona Dean, has the same cancer that I had. She was diagnosed about a year after me, at age 49 like me. She has older kids in their twenties and, again, like me, younger kids too. Her twin girls are 8, going on 9. Sadly, unlike how well I am doing so far, it appears that she is not going to survive Renal Cell Carcinoma. She was stage III at diagnosis, though I was stage IV. But, a few months into starting her chemo post-op, (again, same as my med) she was discovered to have extensive spread all through her abdomen and liver. Her church is raising funds to send she and her family to Disneyworld in late February, so that her twins can experience that happy memory with their mom before she becomes too ill to go.

Dona is a precious sister in Christ to many people that we know, and although I haven't seen her often over the years, she is one of those people who you feel you just talked to yesterday each time you talk to her. Can you pray with me, that Dona's homegoing to be with her Savior will be as comfortable as possible, that she will feel His peace surrounding her, and her husband and children and grandchild, through this experience? Dona has a wonderful accepting attitude toward her death, and just wants to honor God even in her own pain.

Thank you so much for continuing to care so much about me and my family. We are grateful. I will post a HOPEFULLY clear scan result end of February or early March. This June will be two years past diagnosis! Praising God for sustaining my life thus far. I am thankful for every day I have had, and pray He will grant me many more. I do not take it for granted.

Love,
Karen