God Has Plans for Us

Jeremiah 29: 11-13

Our Journey from the beginning.

Nov 5:

Prayers appreciated today. Kevin is getting a CT scan and a PET scan. Will know results Monday. Believing for a miracle!

Nov 11:

Got results Monday. The cancer is about 50 percent gone. The doctor said that is great news, but since we thought the cancer was completely gone, we were shell shocked for awhile. Doc kept wondering why we weren't more excited and looked at us like we were crazy when we told him we were excepting it all to be gone. He pointed out that he has only been on chemo for 5 months and that his liver was full of cancer in the beginning. That is half gone is more than he was hoping for at this point.

Once we got over the disappointment, we realized God has everything under control and in His plan. For some reason, He wants us to continue fighting this battle, so fight we will...knowing that God is on our side and that He works all things out for our good.

I guess the biggest disappointment was the continuation of the chemo and shots. We were so hoping that Kevin wouldn't have to take anymore treatments.

But the Oncologist kept Kevin on the Folfiri and added Avastin,a cancer medicine that interferes with the growth of cancer cells and slows their growth and spread in the body.

And of course...10 more days of shots!

We are extremely thankful for all God has done for Kevin. He is not suffering some of the extreme side effects that can happen with the chemo. He is nauseous for a couple of days and extremely tired the 2 days he is on the 5-FU pump. But overall he is doing very well and we are very blessed!

This is our youngest granddaughter. Isn't she a cutie? We have 3 granddaughters and 2 grandsons. We're pretty proud of them. Can you tell?

Kevin took his 12th round of chemo this week. He did better on the new drug this week than last time.

The last one made him pretty sick and he never regained his strength even though it was 3 weeks apart due to Thanksgiving.

The doc said his blood count was still low even with the shots for his blood platelets and white blood cells. Will continue to monitor it, but doc said it was probably the reason Kevin didn’t feel very well these last 3 weeks.

As I stated he did better with the treatment he took Tues, but it just couldn't be an easy round. Last night...as church was ending...Kevin noticed his bag that holds his chemo pump was dripping. His chemo pump busted! Had to make a mad dash to Tulsa late last night to the Cancer Treatment Center.

Once we got there...they sent a guy in a hazmat suit and gloves to disconnect and dispose of the broken pump. They told me to wash the clothes he was wearing twice in hot water, but told him just to wash his hands (where the chemo had spilled on them) with soapy water. Go figure :-)

Besides being tired from getting just a couple of hours of sleep last night, Kevin is doing very well. I am very thankful that even though we have not got the instant miracle we want...we get to see God's mercy and grace each day we live with this dreadful disease. God is faithful and just and works ALL things out for our good.

Dec 20

Kevin took his 13th round of chemo last Tues. He has felt pretty bad ever since. He is fatigued and suffering stomach cramps and diarrhea. He also has had extreme bone pain off and on since Tues.

He is going to talk to the doctor next Tues about taking a break from the chemo for a little while. God has been so good to us. Kevin hasn't suffered a lot of the serious side effects that can occur with the strong chemo he is on, but the last 2 or 3 treatments has been hard on him and he is getting really tired...so I'm asking all of you to hold his hands up in prayer. I know the "answer" is on the way...we just have to be patient and faithful till it gets here.

Our God is merciful and greatly to be praised!

Dec 22

Spent most of the day in the Urgent Care Unit at the Cancer Treatment Center. As I stated in my last post, Kevin has been feeling bad and in pain for over a week now. He just kept getting worse, so took him in this morning to be evaluated.

The weighed him first and found out he had lost over 20 pounds since he was there 8 days ago. They also said he was dehydrated and pumped fluids into him for over 2 hours. They gave him a shot for the stomach cramps and diarrhea. Then they said if his blood pressure (it dropped when he stood up) was alright we could go home.

The minute they sat him up to take his BP he started vomiting again. They called the doctor back in and he determined it was a reaction to the shot, but to be on the safe side, he ordered an upper GI for tomorrow.

Please remember him in prayer and I will post the results when we get them.

Dec 26

Well, I wasn't able to post his results right away because the next morning as soon as Kevin's Oncologist examined him...he stepped out of the room and started ordering the GI test to be done immediately instead of later that morning as scheduled.

After the test we went back to doc's office and he read the results and stated he didn't see anything that would concern him such as a blockage or the cancer spreading...but since Kevin had constant diarrhea and pain for 9 days...he wanted to admit him to the hospital and pump more fluids into him and run run more tests to determine cause. He told him that diarrhea kills people and he was already in bad shape from the effects of it.

So they admitted him immediately and I started calling on some wonderful prayer warriors. Kevin did not want to be in the hospital on Christmas day. He also wanted to get out in time to attend Christmas Eve service at church.

He did an amazing turn-around that very evening. He started getting stronger and 24 hours later they released him...in time to go to church that evening.

The test showed he had bacteria in his intestines. In a normal person their immune system would have took care of it, but in Kevin's weakened state, he could not get over it. They put him on some strong antibiotics and now 3 days later he is feeling great.

God is very merciful and His ear is open to our cries.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Your Sister in Christ,

Vickey

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